In recent years, bicycles have been all the rage. More and more people are shifting towards living a healthier lifestyle and using a bicycle as a means for transport and exercise. This trend doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, and in fact it seems like its only increasing in popularity. Whether you are biking for recreational purposes or just use it as a way to commute around the city, you want to keep your bike in good shape, as quality bikes can be quite expensive, and buying a new one might be out of your budget at the moment.
I remember even when I was a kid, I did some small maintenance work on my bicycle. I’m not talking about part replacement, but I could easily tighten a screw, change the pedals or even the brakes. I’m not trying to brag about my DIY skills as a child, instead I want to point out that doing some minor repairs on your bike is something you can easily do yourself without much trouble. Even the more complex repairs can be done by doing a little research on bicycles parts online.
A high-end quality bike comes with OEM parts, which will last you through a lot of wear and tear, however, eventually they will start coming in the way of the bike’s performance and will need a suitable replacement. You don’t want to put cheap replacement parts instead of the parts that came with your thousands of dollars worth bicycle. There are manufacturers like Shimano, Sram, Campagnolo, etc., who produce top quality bicycle parts. You can find many quality brands of bicycles parts online and choose one that fits your needs best. Here are some of the most commonly replaced bicycle parts.
Pedals
Pedals are subjected to much abuse from the rider and the environment. It’s very common that they wear down or break, so you might find yourself looking for a new pair before you know it. Most bicycles have simple, flat pedals but others have the quill pedal models in which parallel plates are extended from a main axle.
Brakes
Most bikes use caliper brakes which use a horseshoe shaped bracket that is used to hold brake pads near the wheel rim. The most commonly used caliper brakes are the dual-pivot and side-pull models. Dual-pivot are heavier than the standard caliper brakes but offer a higher mechanical advantage. Regularly maintenaning your brakes is a must if you want to stay injury free, and the process of changing them can be done by experienced cyclists and DIY enthusiasts.
Shifters
The shifter is the component used to change gears. It’s most commonly found on the handlebars and connects the component to the derailleur gears. There are two types of shifters – index and friction. Friction models allow the cyclist to use components from various different manufacturers without having compatibility issues. Index shifting is slightly different – it has discrete stops where each stop corresponds to a position of the derailleur gear. The index shifter has the benefit of being able to change gear without having to adjust it every time.
