So I ordered two more tools:

Tire Glider (the red, small thing)
Kool Stop Tire Bead Jack (the big black thing)

Tire Glider claims to make installing tires tireless and my friend confirmed it worked well for him. Another friend told me it didn't work for him because it simply didn't glide on the rim because the tire was just too tight. And it was exactly what happened lol maybe spraying so.e soapy water on the rim and tire bead would help...

But the bead Jack totally worked. When the tire bead is that tight, all that matters is leverage! (Or if you have iron thumbs and arms)... This thing worked like a charm. It is bigger (so only useful at home) so there's way more leverage.

#BikeToot #bike #BikeRepair #BikeMaintenance #BikeWrench #HomeMechanic

I've since reindexed the rear and front derailleurs. Shifting is back to normal. I've noticed other issues though.

The front and rear wheels are no longer true and have some pretty visible deviation. They can only spin freely if the rim brake quick release is open. The rear wheel is also making some kind of rubbing sound, as if rubbing against the brakes, but as far as I can visually tell, they it isn't.

The chain also sometimes rubs against the front derailleur in a certain gear and when under load. There is no creaking sound, so I don't think it's the bottom bracket. Some say it's frame flex. My bike is aluminium. I don't know how flexy that is.

The rear rim brake calliper is also gunged up and does not return to its original position after closing. It looks pretty dirty though. But since the calliper is from Tektro, I decided to spend 20 bucks to get a Shimano 105 calliper. The tektro one can then be used for learning purposes!

#biketooter #bicycle #homemechanic

So here are a few things I tried:

1. Thread the pedal in from the other side. The pedal went in halfway before it got stuck and I think I damaged more threads removing the pedal now.

2. Bought a set of socket wrenches (since I didn't know all I needed was a 15mm one) and tried to take off the crankarm. If I could take it off, I could order a replacement crankarm. Why would you buy a new crankarm if you couldn't replace it, right? Well, the socket wrench set, the second cheapest on Amazon, sucked ass. They were made of soft metal and the 15mm size was more like 15.2mm. The wrench rounded out after a few tries...

3. Took it to the LBS. The shop owner said he won't fix it because he didn't want to take responsibility of what happened to the bike. Told us to return and refund the bike instead. My partner loves the bike, so no can do.

4. I bought what looked like a decent crank removal tool. I could tell it was better because it was heavier, so properly denser, harder metal. Plus, it came with it's own wrench, which socketed in on all 6 sides of the hex-shaped tool. This did the trick, since I now had enough grip, leverage and stability to undo that crankarm nut and remove the crankarm. It wasn't easy though and took me 15 minutes of wrenching with all the strength I could muster whilst half-kneeling.

tldr: I removed the left crankarm of my partner's city bike.

#bike #biketooter #bicycle #homemechanic