Common Bike Assembly Issues That Should Be Handled by a Professional

One of the services we provide for our customers is professional bike assembly here at our bike repair shop in Boca Raton, FL. Many people attempt to put their bikes together themselves, but end up making some mistakes in the process, resulting in frustration and potential safety issues.

With this in mind, here are a few examples of some of the bike assembly issues that you should have handled by a professional.

Issues with the pedals

The pedals are one of the parts of the bike that most frequently get improperly installed by people who are not professional bike assemblers. The biggest mistake here tends to be mis-threading of the pedals.

You should always use a waterproof grease when installing the pedals, and put the pedals at least two thirds of the way into the crank arms by hand. If you start to feel so much resistance that you think you’re going to need a tool to install the pedals, you’re probably not doing it correctly, and could very well be cross-threading the pedals. Over time, cross-threaded pedals will see their treads fail, and the spindles will fall out of the cracks at some point within the first year of using the bike. While these threads can occasionally be repaired, in many cases this is going to be an expensive fix, one you could have avoided by working with a professional in the first place.

Issues with the limit screws

The components that shift the gears in your bike are called the derailleurs. These parts are limited in terms of their range by a pair of screws known as limit screws. In many cases, bikes will not come out of the box with limit screws adjusted to the proper settings or positions.

It takes a bit of experience in working with bikes to know exactly how these limit screws need to be adjusted. The results of bad limit screw adjustment can be serious. For example, front derailleurs not set to the proper position could result in the chain frequently popping off the chainrings. With the rear derailleur, improper limit screw settings could result in frame damage.

Backwards forks

When bikes are shipped out to customers for them to assemble themselves, the forks are often packed backwards inside the shipping containers to keep those packing boxes as small as possible. In the vast majority of cases, the rim brakes should be facing forward, while the disc brakes should be set on the opposite side of your gears. If you find the tire is slamming into the frame after you build the bike, or that it’s hitting your shoe when you turn, the problem is most likely that you incorrectly installed the forks.

These are just three of the many common issues we see with bikes that have not been professionally assembled. Contact Bicycle Doctor Inc. – House Calls for more information about our bike repair shop in Boca Raton, FL. We can come to you and assemble your bike at your location—no transportation necessary!

Categorised in: Bike Repair, Bike Shop

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