Drivetrain
How to Adjust a Front Derailleur: Stop the Rubbing and Dropped Chains
A workshop guide to adjusting a front derailleur: cage height and rotation, the L and H limit screws, and cable tension to fix rubbing and dropped chains.
Tech Tips
Repair guides written from the workstand in Ballston Spa — bleeding brakes, chasing creaks, setting preload, and the tools each job actually needs.
Drivetrain
What Is a Bike Chain Tool and Which One Do You Need?
What a bike chain tool does, when a chain breaker beats master link pliers, and which press fits 12-speed, AXS Flattop, and 1/8-inch chains.
Drivetrain
How to Measure Bike Chain Length the Right Way
A workshop guide to sizing a bike chain: the big-big plus one inch method, the largest-cog method for 1x, how derailleur capacity and full suspension change the math, and how to break to length and reconnect cleanly.
Drivetrain
How to install and remove bike pedals
Pedal threads, install torque, the wrench formats that fit each pedal, and what to do when a pedal will not come off. Our shop's pedal-service procedure, end to end.
Drivetrain
When and how to replace your cassette
Cassettes wear in lockstep with chains; catch them at the right point and you swap a $50 part instead of a $250 one. This guide covers when to call it, how to tell a cassette from a freewheel, and how to remove either cleanly with the right Unior tool.
Drivetrain
When and how to replace your chain
How to tell when your chain is worn, why a worn chain damages your cassette and chainrings, and how to break and reinstall cleanly with the Master Chain Tool.
Drivetrain
How to clean and lubricate your chain - and what we use
A clean, properly lubed chain shifts better and lasts longer: the degrease-wipe-lube routine step by step, and the products we use on our own bikes.
Drivetrain
How to Adjust a Rear Derailleur
A workshop guide to indexing a rear derailleur: what the barrel adjuster, H/L limit screws, and B-tension each do, plus a step-by-step adjustment sequence and a job-to-tool cheat sheet.
Drivetrain
Service Your Jockey Wheels
Jockey wheels quietly wear to the point of failure. How to clean, grease, and check play in your derailleur pulleys before they let the chain go.
Drivetrain
How to Save a Bent Mech Hanger
Shifting suddenly feels off? How to spot a bent mech hanger and straighten it accurately with an alignment gauge before it wrecks your drivetrain.