The EMTB Bike Hack Collection

[GrandPaBrogan]

Heya @outerlimits feel free to post your rotor truing indicator here.



I'll start it off with my err-uhmm Brake Hose Clampy-thingy.

I wanted to shorten my brake hoses and so I bought the metal olives and hose end metal inserts plus a bleed kit. After I'd already cut the hoses, I realised I was missing the special hose clamp to clasp the hose without crushing it - while pressing the metal insert into the hose end. Had a look on line and the cheap plastic ones always come with a kit (but not mine!), or the ones that didn't were expensive specialty tools in their own right. I could afford them I suppose, but didn't have the time to go order one. Seeing as I was only going to do this once, I just made one out of a block of wood by drilling a 6mm hole through it and then cutting a slit with a hacksaw. I put that wooden clamp together with the hose on a C-clamp and tapped the metal insert with a plastic hammer and it worked great.

I needn't have bothered. I recon I could've just as easily installed the metal insert by holding the hose end with both my thumbs and fingers and then push that against a wall. But hey, monkey see monkey do.

If anyone wants a slightly used (as new) wooden hose clamp (adds a rustic vibe to any workshop because it's rotten pine), this one is for sale for $50 bucks but you only get the special price if you pay for the postage. Awesome deal no matter which way you look at it! (C-clamp and hammer not included)

 

[Zimmerframe]

You forgot to mention that it looks like some form of exotic hardwood ..

And also that it's a double ender - but then you would run the risk of getting @outerlimits overly excited again.

 

[outerlimits]

I’m excited ??

WTAF GaryOn rotor trueing thingy ?

 

[GrandPaBrogan]

Handlebar Alignment Guide

If your OCD is playing up, here's a hack to make bar alignment easier, quicker, and super accurate.


1) Place a ruler (preferably a wooden yard stick or a thin wood trimming) and lean it against the front of the two stanchions and just behind the slider arch. If you have an aluminium ruler like mine, stick some vinyl electrical tape so as not to scratch your fork stanchion coatings, because when you stand over or sit on the bike the fork could move. So clean and wipe all the grit off the tubes before you start! (I'd say DO NOT use a steel ruler with sharp edges - just not worth the risk).

2) You still have to eye-ball it from above but using the ruler as a reference takes much of the guess work away. Pic below is just to illustrate where to peek at the gaps (left and right gaps are uneven here). Make sure you position the one eye you're using directly over the stem cap, and then move your head forward until only a slither of the ruler shows through the bar bends.

Best to lean the front of your tyre against a wall so that you can turn the bars accordingly without taking the fork along with it. Tighten the stem clamp bolts and forget! (Make sure you've tensioned your head set bearings properly with the stem cap bolt, before you do.)

(Now all that's left to annoy you is how imperfectly aligned your hands are on the bar grips, and how irritating it is to see your left and right shoelaces NOT flopping in the wind in perfect symmetry.)

.

 

[JCB]

I want to lube my ebike chain the same way as my normal mtb, by spinning cranks backward.
What's the hack for that ?

 

[Zimmerframe]

I want to lube my ebike chain the same way as my normal mtb, by spinning cranks backward.
What's the hack for that ?

Stick an allen key or similar into the chainring so the crank catches it and pushes it round.

 

[GrandPaBrogan]

Determining your ideal brake lever angle is straight forward and in the most part subjective. The correct angle is when you're no longer thinking about your levers when you reach out for them and while braking. I've seen extreme set-ups where the levers are near horizontal or near vertical downwards, but hey... if it works, it works. But for the rest of us, arm-pump is minimised if it's somewhere near 30° and 45° depending if we stand tall or hunch low when it's time to throw the anchor overboard.

Matching the lever angles of both levers is another one of those 'eye-ball' jobs where near enough is good enough. But if this sort of thing bothers your OCD and keeps you awake at night - or if there's something wrong with your one good eye ball... then this might help.

Enter the aluminium meter ruler yet again (or wooden yard stick). Heck even a broom handle will do - and we shall name this brand new precision instrument the
Brake Lever - Alignment Tool or the B.A.T.H. (brake attack tacky hack)

Step 1: Rest one end of the ruler on your front tyre and lean the ruler on top of your right bar grip. Loosen and lower your brake lever before hand, but now raise it until it touches the ruler - then tighten. So you don't have to use that third hand of yours, use the Allen Key (preferably a T or L bar) to loosen, rotate, and tighten your lever into place all in one go.
Step 2: Repeat the same for your left brake lever. Their angle position will be identical... and you just never know, it might even be the lever angle that suits you best (it is for me)!

That option on the right is the smart phone hack. Some of you might disagree that using a phone with a protractor app is actually scientific - and no longer a hack, but that would depend on whether you consider a smart phone a common everyday item, or not. Same two handed operation if you use the Allen Key ninja style.

Which one is easier? I actually can't say... I use them both. The phone hack is handy if your preferred angle doesn't match the angle you get from the ruler hack. The thing about using the phone hack tho, the bike needs to be standing upright otherwise you could be introducing nightmarish discrepancies of up to 0.01 of a degree, and spoil your day.

Joking aside, the thing about this hack is that it is REPEATABLE and helpful if you're testing or changing handlebars often - or stems, or whenever you have to remove your brake levers and put them back on again.

.

 

[HORSPWR]

Handlebar Alignment Guide

If your OCD is playing up, here's a hack to make bar alignment easier, quicker, and super accurate.


1) Place a ruler (preferably a wooden yard stick or a thin wood trimming) and lean it against the front of the two stanchions and just behind the slider arch. If you have an aluminium ruler like mine, stick some vinyl electrical tape so as not to scratch your fork stanchion coatings, because when you stand over or sit on the bike the fork could move. So clean and wipe all the grit off the tubes before you start! (I'd say DO NOT use a steel ruler with sharp edges - just not worth the risk).

View attachment 21008



2) You still have to eye-ball it from above but using the ruler as a reference takes much of the guess work away. Pic below is just to illustrate where to peek at the gaps (left and right gaps are uneven here). Make sure you position the one eye you're using directly over the stem cap, and then move your head forward until only a slither of the ruler shows through the bar bends.

View attachment 21009

Best to lean the front of your tyre against a wall so that you can turn the bars accordingly without taking the fork along with it. Tighten the stem clamp bolts and forget! (Make sure you've tensioned your head set bearings properly with the stem cap bolt, before you do.)

(Now all that's left to annoy you is how imperfectly aligned your hands are on the bar grips, and how irritating it is to see your left and right shoelaces NOT flopping in the wind in perfect symmetry.)

.

Great idea but instead of having to eyeball it from above and having to move you head/eye around, why not just take a picture as you have done here as the gap difference is obvious. Adjust and take another picture if need be.

 

[Al Boneta]

Since I build and service Emtbs and Mtbs all day, I’ll share this one.
When a new bike comes out of the box, the cable for the Dropper is sticking out of the frame.
You can hook up the Dropper before you do anything else, but that’s a hassle out of the stand while everything is wrapped up and the handlebars are not installed.
You can shove it down in the frame and connect it later but that might crimp the cable housing or make it hard to remove.
So my solution was to use a straight post and cut the top clamp off and tighten a seat collar to the top of it.
My repair stand has something to clamp onto, the cable can stick out and I can strip and build the bike in my preferred sequence.
It’s also great for repairing bikes with droppers. No one wants to see their Dropper seat post clamped in the repair stand. And there is no danger of the post getting scratched.

 

[GrandPaBrogan]

No one wants to see their Dropper seat post clamped in the repair stand.

Agree!

There's gotta be another way to attach an eBike to a repair stand. My D-post is set all the way down so there's not enough of the outer post to grab. I don't know about other bikes but with my Trance E+ you'll have to pull the inner actuator cable all the way out above the seat clamp to unhook it - in order to be able to install a normal seat post (or maybe just a tube) in it's place... and it'll be a pain to insert the inner cable back in again. The outer cable end is down deep and can't be easily pulled out because of the semi-permanent internal routing.

At the moment, I'm just hanging my bike under the front of the Saddle but it's far from ideal because the front end is down touching the ground and it's wobbly and not secure.

 

[Clausguld]

If you want to lube by turning backward just use a zip tie
View media item 1139

 

[Webike]

[QUOTE="Al Boneta, post: 116578, No one wants to see their Dropper seat post clamped in the repair stand.

I'm hoping the cushion from the old inner-tube wraped around the post prevents any damage to the seat post riser...so far so good.

I'll leave the initial bike build to the professionals like AL at Orange Cycle and thank him again for getting me and my wife set up on Levos.

 

[RAZOR]

Agree!

There's gotta be another way to attach an eBike to a repair stand. My D-post is set all the way down so there's not enough of the outer post to grab. I don't know about other bikes but with my Trance E+ you'll have to pull the inner actuator cable all the way out above the seat clamp to unhook it - in order to be able to install a normal seat post (or maybe just a tube) in it's place... and it'll be a pain to insert the inner cable back in again. The outer cable end is down deep and can't be easily pulled out because of the semi-permanent internal routing.

At the moment, I'm just hanging my bike under the front of the Saddle but it's far from ideal because the front end is down touching the ground and it's wobbly and not secure.

the guys at work use a pair of drop bars mounted upside down in the stand and then just hang the bike off that.

 

[Gary]

I'm hoping the cushion from the old inner-tube wraped around the post prevents any damage to the seat post riser...so far so good.

Your stand's clamping faces already have protective plastic/rubber inserts and are fine to clamp a dropper stanchion with. Just make sure there's no debris on the stanchion or the clamp covers
I've clamped thousands of dropper posts in Park tool stands with the same style plastic/rubber clamps you have and never damaged a single one. Infact. every single time I service a dropper I actually use the park tool stand to clamp the post in to allow me to undo the top seal assembly.

When building new bikes from the box with droppers I generally place the bike straight from the box into a Feedback sports Rakk folding wheel support stand with cardboard from the box under the fork dropouts. The stand then holds the bike while I attach the hose/cable and insert the dropper into the frame. then I'll clamp the bike in the workstand by the post.
Feedback Sports Rakk Storage and Display Stand | Chain Reaction Cycles

I also use these same stands if I'm bleeding a reverb hose as a workshop repair stand is just far more awkward and can often mean the bar remote is a little high/out of reach. With the bike in the little floor stand I cover the top of the rear tyre and seatstays with blue roll and toe strap the post to securely along top with the bleed port facing upwards.

 

[GrandPaBrogan]

the guys at work use a pair of drop bars mounted upside down in the stand and then just hang the bike off that.

I'm interested! Do you have a photo?

 

[Zimmerframe]

I'm interested! Do you have a photo?

I'm guessing @RAZOR means something like this ... though I could be completely and utterly totally wrong

 

[RAZOR]

That’s the one! Then hang bike in the bars.

 

[Webike]

Drop bar hanger would be OK if you're into displaying a bike but not stable at all for working on the bike.

Park rubber jaws are great but do get chewed up over time and debris can get embedded into the surface, hence the old piece of MC tube wrapped around the post prior to clamping around the extended seat post.

A simple crank arm stand is remarkably stable and allows an assortment of bike maintenance jobs that don't require chain rotation....OK for parking also.

 

[GrandPaBrogan]

A simple crank arm stand is remarkably stable and allows an assortment of bike maintenance jobs that don't require chain rotation....OK for parking also.

Did you make those crankarm stands yourself? PVC pipe?

 

[Gary]

Park rubber jaws are great but do get chewed up over time and debris can get embedded into the surface, hence the old piece of MC tube wrapped around the post prior to clamping around the extended seat post.

Debris is generally very easily cleaned/wiped off. But if they do become damaged or something becomes permanently embedded replacement plastic clamp covers are cheap, easily replaced and readily available parts.

 

[Webike]

Debris is generally very easily cleaned/wiped off. But if they do become damaged or something becomes permanently embedded replacement plastic clamp covers are cheap, easily replaced and readily available parts.

Another item for my " To Do " list...

 

[Webike]

Parts via Amazon since I reside in a small city without great hardware stores available:
NIBCO 4551-H Series PVC Pipe Fitting, Flange, Schedule 80, 1-1/2" Socket Stainless T-Nuts, 5/16"-18 (25 Pack), Threaded Insert, Choose Size/Quantity, by Bolt Dropper, Pronged Tee Nut. (5/16"-18 X 3/8") NELXULAS Stainless Steel Closet Rod Flange Holder for Pipe (AD2) 5/16-18 x 1-1/2" Hex Head Cap Screw Bolts, External Hex Drive, Stainless Steel 18-8, Full Thread, Bright Finish, Flat Point, Quantity 25 by Fastenere
Pipe riser is 40 schedule electrical conduit with slot & radius edges...kind of fiddly to cut & a Dremel tool comes in handy for easing the edges.

Made a few for family and friends including the "KABOB" model which skewers the rear axle for chain maintenance when on trips or camping. Miscellaneous adapters and extensions can be added if you get creative....must be my OCD kicking in ....

 

[Deadeye]

Parts via Amazon since I reside in a small city without great hardware stores available:
NIBCO 4551-H Series PVC Pipe Fitting, Flange, Schedule 80, 1-1/2" Socket Stainless T-Nuts, 5/16"-18 (25 Pack), Threaded Insert, Choose Size/Quantity, by Bolt Dropper, Pronged Tee Nut. (5/16"-18 X 3/8") NELXULAS Stainless Steel Closet Rod Flange Holder for Pipe (AD2) 5/16-18 x 1-1/2" Hex Head Cap Screw Bolts, External Hex Drive, Stainless Steel 18-8, Full Thread, Bright Finish, Flat Point, Quantity 25 by Fastenere
Pipe riser is 40 schedule electrical conduit with slot & radius edges...kind of fiddly to cut & a Dremel tool comes in handy for easing the edges.

Made a few for family and friends including the "KABOB" model which skewers the rear axle for chain maintenance when on trips or camping. Miscellaneous adapters and extensions can be added if you get creative....must be my OCD kicking in ....

View attachment 21545

Super Nice! You should sell them on ebay. I'd like to try but I'd never make clean cuts down the pipe like you have. * Just realized you could put small castors under that and push bike and stand around the garage when needed.

 

[Webike]

Deadeye:
An unanticipated advantage is that the stand doesn't need castors to move about since the PVC squeezes and stays onto the Praxis Crank arm and simply lifting the rear wheel slightly allows easy relocation. Cranks with end cap protectors also fit in the stand, if the slot is slightly elongated, and pinch on very firmly. Castors would make the bike unsteady during servicing.

 

[GrandPaBrogan]

Preparing my bike for a weeklong holiday up north this Christmas break. We've only gone away for day-rides, without taking any spares or tools and have gotten away with it thus far. Not taking any chances this time.

I've got this really old Saddle Bag which straps onto the rails at the underside of the saddle for hardtail MTBs - but definitely NOT for full suspension bikes. I cut two aluminium flat bars and drilled two holes that line up with the water-bottle bolt holes on my Trance E+ down tube. Punched two holes on the Saddle Bag and sandwiched that area between the two flat bars then bolted the bag to the frame.

I was worried that my feet might hit the bag because it can flop side to side a tad, but I've taken it out on two different trail rides and it works just fine. Tightening the side straps stops everything inside from rattling about, so no noises. Not waterproof though, but easy enough to put the stuff in a plastic bag.

Inside is a spare inner tube (I know, I know I'm an old fart ), a CO2 inflator with 1 cylinder, two tyre levers, a multi-tool with a mini chain splitter, a quick-link, and a few other bits. The idea is to just make do and get back to the car which will have all the proper tools needed to make proper repairs if needed. Hope we don't need to use any of it.