bicycle repair Tip Assembling your new mountain bike with minimal tools > Bicycle Repair Tips

 

there's a good chance your next mountain
bike will come in a box just like this
so new bike day starts with unboxing and
assembly which is exactly what we'll be
doing today

first of all this is a Diamondback brand
bike and that won't affect the
instructions all that much most mountain
bikes require the same basic steps to
unbox and assemble what makes a
Diamondback different is the care
package it comes with which I'll tell
you more about later to simply put a
mountain bike together all you really
need is a multi-tool but to dial in all
the settings you should have a floor
pump and if you have air suspension a
shock pump before we start turning
wrenches I want to talk about the
concept of torque most bike parts
include markings like this one which
says 6mm 6 Newton meters is the torque
value we should tighten these bolts to
but that would require the use of a
torque wrench which most of you don't
have so by using my torque wrench and a
small multi-tool we can try to get a
ballpark frame of reference for a few
common values I have my torque wrench
set to 4 Newton meters okay very very
easy in fact I can take my finger and I
can pull it ok now we're gonna set this
to 5 Newton meters
yeah it's definitely not bordering on
difficult it's firm but not difficult ok
we're at 6 ok now I'm going really firm
with my hand in fact you can see this
sort of imprint if I want to push this
with my finger
it is it is actually painful to do that
with my finger torque is a lot more
important when you're dealing with
carbon parts but even on alloy parts you
should be careful with that out of the
way I want to talk about one more thing
grease it's a really good idea to use
this on stuff like through axles and
pedals because they could seize if you
don't just saying any grease is better
than nothing it doesn't need to be
high-end with that let's get to putting
together this bike almost always the
rear wheel Fork and most of the
components will be pre-installed you'll
need to remove all the straps and ties
to access the rest of the parts the
handlebars will usually be tied to the
side and you'll need to make sure that
are oriented correctly before you
install them different countries will
have the front and rear brake levers on
different sides but in most cases the
front brake hose will route directly
down without crossing any other cables
that's one way to tell that you have the
bars positioned right to secure the
handlebars in place you'll need to
remove the clamp on the front of the
stem first and then tighten the clamp
down just enough to keep the bars in
place now you can Center them and adjust
the pitch so that they sweep backwards
some people like their bars pitch
forward more aggressively but it's good
to start somewhere in the middle until
you develop your own preferences this
particular stem calls for all the bolts
to be tightened evenly which you can do
by checking to see that the gap is the
same on all sides some stems call for no
gap on one side of the clamp but they're
not as common and will usually be marked
now you're gonna want to install the
seat post on this bike all you need to
do is put the post in and close the
clamp but if your bike came with a
dropper post you're gonna need to make
sure you can access the cable and then
hook the little nub into the end
sometimes you need to turn the bars in
order to reach the cable and then guide
the cable back in when pushing the post
down in any case we're not gonna worry
about the height of your seat until
later at this point I find it easier to
turn the bike upside down so that it's
more stable
if you're worried about marking up your
bars you can put them on some packing
material on goes the front wheel first
lift up the lever on your through axle
and unscrew it now take note of what
side of the wheel the rotor is on and
what side of the bike the caliper is on
if you have the wheel aligned correctly
it should drop in effortlessly and
require no force to get in place at that
point the through axle should go back in
with very little effort save for maybe
jiggling the wheel around screw the thru
axle in and then close the lever it
should be tight enough to leave a good
impression
it's too loose give it one more turn and
try again now for the pedals take note
as one of your pedals will have some
grooves or a line in the shaft and one
will not the one that does not gets
installed on the drive side of the bike
and tightens clockwise just like a
normal bolt the other pedal the one with
the markings is reversed thread it
tightens counterclockwise but here's the
thing as long as you're facing the drive
side of the bike you know the side with
the chain both pedals will appear to
thread clockwise you'll figure it out to
get your pedals nice and tight make sure
you find an angle where you can tighten
against the crank arm and if your bike
has multiple gears up front make sure
the chain is around the largest one
because if you slip with that sprocket
exposed you're gonna have a bad time so
now your bike is more or less together
but we're not done yet unless your bike
is used they came with new brake pads
and rotors which means we need to bed
them in if you touched your rotors
during the installation clean them with
alcohol to get any oil from your skin
off the surface now hop on your bike get
up to a moderate speed and squeeze the
brakes lightly enough so that you feel
yourself slowing down before you come to
a complete stop release the levers and
continue rolling
repeat this process about ten times and
you're done by betting your brake pads
you're allowing them to heat up and
distribute an even layer of material
across the surface of the rotor if you
were to immediately hop on your new bike
slam on the brakes and come to a full
stop your rotors could end up with a
clump of braking material in one area
with that out of the way let's adjust
the height of your C post if you have a
dropper post extended all the way up now
brace yourself on a wall or something
and drop your crank
all the way down with your leg totally
straight your heels should sit flat on
the pedal adjust your seat post until
you achieve this I mentioned torque
earlier in the video and this is
particularly important on dropper seat
posts too much torque can prevent them
from operating smoothly if you have a
quick-release it should be just possible
to close with your thumb any tighter and
you should probably loosen it up a bit
now if your bike came with air
suspension we'll need to set it up I
made a video on this a few years back
and it really is a topic that warrants
its own discussion so definitely watch
that in this video I'll just cover the
most basic setting which is known as sag
first put on all your riding gear and
get on your bike ideally you'll have a
friend to help hold you up but my friend
today is a wall stand-up and get into an
attack position cycle your suspension by
bouncing up and down a few times now
very carefully reach down and push the
o-ring on your fork to the bottom then
very slowly get off your bike the
suspension will decompress bringing the
o-ring with it my fork calls for 30% sag
which means my oring should be slightly
less than a third of the way up the
stanchion Google what the SAG should be
for your fork and then check it just
like I did from there you can unscrew
the air cap and use your shock pump to
adjust it less pressure add sec and more
pressure reduces sag don't obsess too
much about the number on your pressure
gauge just go by the o-ring if your bike
is full suspension repeat this same
process for the rear shock
now for your tire pressure which is
another topic which warrants a dedicated
video what pressure you run will depend
on your tire size your weight what type
of terrain you're riding and whether or
not your tires are set up to 'bless this
particular bike has twenty seven five by
two point three inch tires and has inner
tubes so I'm gonna pump it up to 40 psi
to be safe but this bike also came with
tubeless valve stems in the box which
means it's tubeless ready and can be set
up to run much lower tire pressure lower
pressure results in a smoother ride and
better traction to make this bike
tubeless all I need are the included
valve stems and some Tula sealant which
you can get in the link below or at any
bike shop the procedure goes like this
first let all the air out of your tire

then push on the base really hard until
the tire pops in work your way all the
way around and then pull the tire over
the rim so you can pull the inner tube
out this can be challenging if you've
never done it before once the tube is
out you can install your tubeless valve
stem which needs to make a good seal I
like to push firmly on it from the
inside of the rim and then get it hand
tight

now pull the tire back onto the rim in
all but one spot at the bottom shake up
your bottle of sealant real good and
pour it into the tire different seal and
brands require different amounts so
check the bottle or the manufacturers
website now slowly rotate the wheel 180
degrees so you can access the opening to
pop it back on some tires do require
more effort than others
but every mountain biker eventually gets
the hang of it now pump up the tire as
fast as possible with a high volume
floor pump or air compressor if you're
having trouble getting the tires a whole
dare try coaxing it on to the side of
the rim when you finally get some
pressure in it you'll hear it pop into
place now just splash the sealant around
the inside of the tire or better yet
take it for a ride around the block for
the sake of brevity I'll spare you
additional details on the topic of
tubeless at this time I'm gonna answer
some very likely questions you'll have
about this bike such as what did I get
this for this is a Diamondback release 1
and if you notice it's way too big for
me that's because it's not for me it's
part of my loaner fleet having different
sized loaner bikes around will allow me
to introduce mountain biking to more
people in future videos and with a very
attainable bike like the release one
I'll be introducing them to the sport on
something they may actually be able to
afford this is a full suspension trail
bike with hydraulic disc brakes through
axles tubeless tires a clutch adjustable
air suspension and plenty of room for
upgrades like internal cable routing for
a dropper post what's better it came
with these platform pedals a shock pump
tubeless valve stems a spare derailleur
hanger mud guards and a torque wrench
multi-tool I saved this little
commercial for the end because I really
wanted this to be a tutorial for any
bike even if you're not looking to
assemble a bike anytime soon I hope this
video has provided a little bit of
wrenching knowledge or even some
entertainment for beginners thanks for
watching today and if you're a more
experienced rider who didn't need this
tutorial I hope
you'll stick around and help someone out
in the comments section thanks for
riding with me today and I'll see you
next time
you