071 ICI Podcast #71 – Indoor Bike Maintenance Expert Jeff Wimmer
Jeff Wimmer’s name came up during our interview with Johnny G last year. (I’ve been trying to get him on the Podcast ever since)
Jeff and his company StudioCycles is recognized by most of the Indoor Cycling Bike Manufactures as the expert when it comes to maintaining those poor bikes that are so often ridden hard and then put away wet.
Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe for free using iTunes or Zune.
7 Responses to “071 ICI Podcast #71 – Indoor Bike Maintenance Expert Jeff Wimmer”
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I had to laugh as I listened to Jeff because Ive heard him say these things probably a million times over the last 4 years. Im his girlfried and I can attest that he truly lives, eats and breathes spin bike repair. Im pretty sure I could build a bike from scratch now after listening to all of his teachings day in and day out. It was really special listening to his first interview though! IM so proud of him!
I just love to hear stories about how someone gets thrown into a situation (like Jeff meeting Johnny G as he “dug through the trash” to build his first Spinner bike) then recognizing an opportunity and going with it! Kudos to you Jeff – you saw an opening where there was no one, and I would even say you created an industry. Lisa you have every reason to be proud!
It’s kind of what John and I are doing with ICI – recognizing that there is a dearth of solid training information available to IC instructors, and finding a way to provide it.
I know I want my club managers to listen to this podcast. Preventive bike maintenance is not always on the top of every manager’s list. I’m hoping we can move it up a few notches.
Really interesting, that would be great too to have a small easy check list with basic maintenance; basic problems; …
In 2 facilities I teach, I have been pushing the manager to fix some problems, mostly was lose chain. The last time it was so hard to be heard that I had to ask to the general manager of one facility, a guy I ride outside who is a good friend, to talk to the other manager, same franshise; to make thing move ! So the group exercise manager ask me to note which bike on 30 needed some kind of maintenance. When I told her 2 bikes were perfect on 30 she was scare to annonce it to the big manager !
What was really suprising me, is how many instructors just do not remark that something was wrong with bike !
I have 2 questions about maintenance:
-what are the factor that induce loseness of the chain ? what is the basic frequence of maintenance of the chain tension ?
-sometime going from a standing to a seated position or vise versa the tension just increase without touching the knob ? What could be the reason and how to manage it ?
A very useful podcast, thanks! I am really interested in bike maintainance, mostly as I ride a road bike which I love to clean and lube and pump the tyres, etc etc then take it for a nice long ride.
Like Pascal, I am keen to know how problems like the loose chain develops, can we prevent it or is it mostly due to the intense life our poor spin bikes live? Another issue I have found is the ‘all or nothing bike’ – at low resistance it is fine but once you start putting that resistance on to climb a hill, you’re suddenly climbing a mountain with no where harder to go. I hate this and I know my fellow instructors, students and classmates do too.
I guess what I (and probably other instructors) want is a short check list of easily solved or preventable issues – how they happen and how to solve them!… now, I bet you are going to say buy Jeffs book for our relevent spin bikes and I dont blame you if you do!!
Thanks!
Myriad, where do you live? I have a couple of bikes that need tender loving care, if you want to polish up your bike cleaning skill! I don’t think I’ve ever heard the words “I love to clean…” in the same sentence as bikes!
Ah, Jennifer, I’m afraid I am probably about 2000 miles from you – I live in Bristol, UK! I am heading over to Denver and around that area next year on holiday, so if I have time, I’ll pop in with my brushes and lubes and give your bikes a quick once over!
Most indoor cycle maintenance is just a matter of getting a little dirty and greasy and fixing it. Jeff’s manuals are worth every dollar. Chains will stretch over a period of time and there is a place to tighten them with little effort. As far as the tension going from loose to tight, it is not hard to change the leather pad or brass nut that put the tension on. Jeff talks about lubrication, probably one of the highlights of this podcast. If you get a new bike, grease every screw on it as you put it together and if you take a screw off a bike put lubricant on the threads before you put it back. Get yourself a few tools (most of the nuts and hex screws on these bikes are metric), a pedal wrench, a tube of lubricant, a manual, a shop apron and some vinyl gloves and get greasy. Once you start repairing little things you will find yourself looking at the bikes to see if there is anything you can do to keep them in top shape.