Bike DIY

Right so the guy that I usually depend on to sort out my bike problems (really good and brilliant prices) hasn’t replied in a recent email regarding swapping my forks and sorting out my front tubeless tyre so it just might be a good time for me to learn to do bike maintenance myself.

So how easy is to swap forks over? any good tutorials? anything I should be aware of?

Also my front tubeless tyre goes down quite quickly so I guess it needs a bit of milk top up. Does it matter what stuff I put in? Does it have to much what he used before? And how the heck do you top it up without the tyre unsticking from the rim?

I am about as mechanically challenged as they come when it comes to bikes so be gentle! Thanks

Swapping forks is easy. The only tricky bit is swapping the crown race (unless you have a split one). The only worrying bit is cutting the steerer on the new forks. Double and triple check before going near the hacksaw. Leave a little bit on and put a headset spacer above the stem, that’ll leave some waggle room.

Don’t know about tubeless, too new-fangled for me.

Do I need a tool to move the crown? Will the pipe cutter do as opposed to a hacksaw?

I’d recommend a pipe cutter unless you have a very good hand or a guide for the saw. A badly cut steerer can create problems when fitting a star-fangled nut.

Getting preload tension on the headset bearings is also important. Park Tools website will have instructions for swapping a fork.