Operation Manual
The car valve can be inflated with a suitable pump directly after removing
the protective cap.
With Presta valves you first have to undo the small knurled nut a little and de-
press it carefully until air starts to escape . Check the nut is tightened and
seated in its stem, otherwise air may slowly leak out. Tyres with car valves
can conveniently be inflated at car filling stations with a compressed air dis-
penser. The same applies to Presta valves fitted with a special adapter. A
compressed air dispenser must be used very carefully as you may otherwise
overinflate the tyre and make it burst. To let out air, press the needle in the
centre of the car valve or the knurled nut of the Presta valve using e.g. a
spanner/key. Hand pumps are often unsuitable for inflating tyres to high
pressures. A better choice is a foot-operated or a track pump equipped with
a pressure gauge .
Always ride your bicycle with the prescribed tyre pressure and
check the pressure at regular intervals, at least once a week.
Replace tyres with a worn tread or with brittle or frayed sides. Dampness
and dirt penetrating the tyre can cause damage to its inner structure. The
inner tube might burst.
Observe the maximum pressure value of the rim. The pressure
is dependent on the tyre width! You will find the values in the
enclosed manuals of the rim manufacturers.
To obtain true running of the wheel, the tension exerted by the spokes has
to be distributed evenly around the rim . If the tension of a single spoke
changes, e.g. as a result of riding fast over a kerb or of a loose nipple, the
tensile forces acting on the rim become unbalanced and the wheel will no
longer run true.
The functioning of your bicycle may even be impaired before you notice the
wobbling appearance of a wheel that has gone out of true.
With rim brakes the sides of the rims also serve as braking surfaces. An un-
true wheel can impair your braking power. It is therefore advisable to check
the wheels for trueness from time to time. For this purpose lift the wheel off
the ground and spin it with your hand. Watch the gap between the rim and
the brake pads. If the gap varies by more than a millimetre, you should ask
an expert to true up the wheel .
Do not ride with untrue wheels. In the case of extreme side-to-
side wobbles, the brake pads of rim brakes can miss the rim and
get caught in the spokes! This normally instantly jams the wheel
and throws you off your bicycle.
Loose spokes must be tightened at once. Otherwise the load on
the other spokes and the rim will increase.
Truing (retruing) wheels is a difficult job which you should defi-
nitely leave to your bicycle dealer!
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The wheels are attached to the frame at the hub axles. Each axle is clamped
tight in the drop-outs by means of a quick-release.
Quick-releases require no tools at all. Just release the lever , unscrew it a
few turns, if necessary, and take out the wheel (see chapter
).
However, a thief will find this just as easy to do! As an anti-theft measure you
can replace the quick-releases by special locks. They can only be opened
and closed with a special, coded key or an Allen key .
Never ride a bicycle without having checked first whether the
wheels are securely fastened! A wheel that comes loose during
riding is very likely to cause an accident!
If your bicycle is equipped with quick-releases, be sure to lock
it to an immovable object together with the wheels when you
leave it outside.
There is a wide range of different thru axle systems currently available.
Some of them are fastened with quick-releases, whereas others require
special tools for assembly or disassembly.
Check the fastening after one to two hours of use and then every 20 hours
of use.
More and more mountain bikes are fitted with thru axle systems.
For more information read chapter “How to Use Quick-Releas-
es and Thru Axles”.
Always observe the enclosed instructions of the fork manufac-
turer.
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