why so long specialized?

get your act together

trek portland wheels and hubs

just overhauled the hubs on my portland. quality is about deore level. polished cones. the wear track on the drive side rear cone was a a little off axis. i suspect the freehub or cone is not perfectly straight, axle looked good. front hub could have gone till the end of the season but i expected that. drive side rear cone was pretty dirty and showed the most wear on the cone. non drive rear cone had the same cleanliness level as the front hub. the wheels are holding up just fine straight and true

rubber pad for clamp arm

cut up an old tire and zip tie it to your clamp head on the repair stand. keeps the saddles scuff free. pic also shows what i keep in my work tray at all times. cable end crimps. grease tub. boshield t9. pedal wrench. 5mm t handle is for adjusting fd height/rotation and cable pinch bolt. yellow pin spanner for 1 piece cranks. t9 can has the patented never loose your straw attachment. take a piece of tape and create a tether for the straw. even if it falls off the nozzle it is never far away.

temporary bar tape clamp

use your park pin spanners to clamp on to bar tape. great for when number 2 calls, answering the phone, tending to walk ins, eating etc. you know you don't pull those pin spanners out much anyways

quick and dirty 4th hand tool

i use this "trick" to pull the slack out of cable systems. pinch end cap/crimp with thumb and middle. use index to push brake arm and pull the slack out. rarely do i pull out the real deal. i use the real one on bmx u brakes or brakes that have a lot of spring tension

hauling with the trek portland

hauled this tool box about 5 miles on flat ground. avg about 8-10 mph. got it home just fine. paid 7 bucks for the box and 2 tools. good ol made in the usa. the box is made by metal box and cabinet corp (MBC). they used to make boxes for snap on long ago

spray can straw

prevent loss of the little red straw from spray cans. wind it around the rim of the can. i also keep a stash of straws around from used up cans

trek mt220 fd cable routing

hey trek can you fix this. route the fd cable properly. i have been seeing this on mt220s for over 3 months and yes they know about it. stop using the crappy RD with the plastic washer on the mounting bolt too, it comes broken and i bet you love doing the warranty on them. ok done ranting

knipex pliers wrench

get yourself a set of these bad boys. the 10 inch size will be the most versatile if you only get one. parallel jaw pliers. the jaws always stay parallel unlike other smooth jaw pliers. good for gripping seized spokes, threaded headset adjustment, 1 piece cranks, and more

bontrager hard case tires

not impressed with these tires on the trek portland. got 3 flats already. big chunk of glass the rear and two slow leaks in the front from unknown causes, the debris probably got knocked out. the gutters in the roads are still a mess from the winter but i try to avoid riding in the gutter as much as possible.

modified cone wrench for disc hubs

this is for locking down the cone and lock nut on the disc side of the hub without removing the axle. file or grind away the sides for clearance on the disc bolts and put a 15 degree bend to clear the other bolt under it. to bend it stick it in the vice with the open end facing up and put an adjustable wrench on it to bend it. to use it lock down the disc side and flip the wheel over to adjust from the other side

trek/gary fisher marlin

clear sticker/packaging film under the crown race. good job trek

specialized crosstrail rim tape

cheap rim tape and poor qc. that flap was sticking out of the mounted tire

trek portland hub update

so i looked into the hubs some more, namely mine. the older porland's did indeed have a 130mm hub. the 2011 rear hub is 135mm OLD. i just measured mine today. so trek does indeed get a clue, sometimes

trek portland hub

hey trek why did you use a 130mm OLD disc hub? 135mm disc hubs are readily available and some 29er wheelsets would make a good set of wheels to thrash on.

presta valve extender tip

there are 2 types of valve extenders. one is a glorified straw and the other requires the removal of the valve core, threading the extender and rethreading the core on the extender. the one that requires core removal is far superior. if you are using the straw type give the lock nut of the tube a crimp before putting the teflon tape and extender on. the crimp prevents the lock nut from spinning down in the worst moments.

screen for oil bucket

we keep a bucket around for oil. it is mostly used for fork oils. got tired of dropping parts and fishing them out of 5 gal bucket half full of oil. take some window screen and loosely secure it around the top with zip ties(big band around the rim). prevents loss of parts and a good place to drain dampers and lowers while you clean the uppers.

take care of your tools

its winter time here in new england. the shop slows down to a crawl. we got plenty of time on our hands. now is the time to inventory your tools and order any new tools that you may need. it is also time to maintain your tools. chain tool, crank puller, ratchets, etc should be cleaned and lubed. for the park hanger alignment tool i pull out the inside shaft and clean and grease it. the grease provide a hydraulic buffer between the shaft and tool. this reduces play and gives smoother operation.

crows foot cone wrench

this is for working on fox fit dampers. torque wrench on a cone wrench. plug in a park cone wrench and turn it 90 degrees so you don't have to do any calculations.

snap rings

square edges of the snap ring should face the snap ring pliers. the snap rings wont fly off and get lost on the floor anymore. one side of a snap ring is rounded from the stamping process and the other is squared off, easy to see by eye and feel