For many of you, your mountain bike is the
love of your life. Even if it put you in the toilet financially
or caused you injury, it’s also given you freedom, confidence, and joy. So you want to tend to and pamper your mountain
bike, but you have no money left to do it. I’ve got you covered today. We’re gonna look at a whole bunch of inexpensive
things you can do to your bike to make it work better, look better, and last longer. The stuff we’ll be looking at is so cheap
that tires don’t even make the cut. Let’s get started. If color coordination is important to you,
plastic valve caps are the cheapest way to do it, hands down. These are available in an absurd amount of
colors, and I could just eat them. In another video I tried aluminum caps, but
they do get kind of crusty over time. This doesn’t happen to plastic, and they’re
available in way more color options. Of course, you can only expect to get tops,
a 5% performance gain from installing these on your bike. If you run flat pedals and ride hard, these
pins will eventually become unrecognizable. Replacing them with new stainless steel pins
will restore your pedals to their original glory—if you can get the old ones out. I’ve used everything from vice grips to
screw extractors to get the job done, and the whole process is an oddly satisfying endeavor. Most popular pedals seem to take this exact
pin, but I have a link to a variety of them below. At the end of your shift cable is an end cap
to protect it, and these can actually be upgraded with anti kink end caps from Jagwire. Like the extension cord on a vacuum cleaner
they provide support a little ways up the housing to prevent kinks, which can impact
your shifting performance. As long as you know how to adjust your derailleur,
these are pretty easy to install, and they add a bit of longevity to an otherwise vulnerable
part. So you adjusted the sag on your suspension
and your bike is riding smoothly. But when you hit a big drop it bottoms out. Don’t add air, add progression. We covered this in detail in another video
which I’ve linked below, but in short, reducing your fork’s air volume with these little
spacers will make it more supportive deep in its travel. Volume reducers don’t cost much, and they’re
very easy to install. As far as cheap upgrades go, this is one of
the biggest if you’re an aggressive rider. Something like an MRP ramp control cartridge
accomplishes the same effect, but it’s not even in the same universe in terms of cost. If you remove your front wheel often, you
appreciate the convenience of a quick release thru axle. If not, you don’t need it, these stealth
axles are much better. They’re simpler, lighter, lower profile,
better looking, and in many cases more secure. If your front wheel stays on most of the time,
this is a no brainer. Just make sure you do a little googling to
get the right one for your fork, and keep a multi tool on hand in case you do need to
remove your front wheel. If your bike has these little threads under
the bottom bracket, you can easily install a bash guard. This Zippa light taco bash is the most expensive
thing in this video at $45, and it includes a spare. Installing it is not rocket science and it
provides clear benefits, absorbing impacts from below that would otherwise damage your
chainring. Even if you don’t have these bolt holes,
you can still install a bash guard around your chainring for even cheaper. If you wash your bike, which you probably
should, you’ll need to re-lubricate your drivetrain. Dry lube is the way to go. This particular stuff is teflon based. You spray it on, cycle your drivetrain, and
it gets into all the nooks and crannies. The liquid part dries up, leaving a slippery
teflon residue behind. But why is this better than chain oil? I’m marking these two lengths of chain. This green one is coated in dry lube, while
this pink one is coated in chain oil. Now to mine some dry dirt off the back tire
of the murder machine. It’s easy to see that the dry lubed chain
collected less dirt. I’ve been having great success with this
stuff, but any dry lube will keep your drivetrain cleaner than chain oil. Just be sure to keep it far away from your
rotors. Speaking of chains, they are one of the cheapest
things you can replace on your drivetrain, and doing so often will increase its longevity. Just count the gears on your cassette and
that’s what kind of chain your need. 10 speed, 11 speed, 12 speed. It’s really that easy. A good 11 speed chain is around $25, and even
a really fancy gold chain is $60. Most mountain bikes these days come tubeless
ready, which means you can remove your inner tubes and run lower tire pressure. The parts you’ll need are not expensive. Just buy tubeless sealant and valve stems. Most tubeless ready rims come with this tape
already on them, but if not you can buy it or use gorilla tape. The process basically involves unseating the
tire, installing the valve stem, pouring in the sealant, closing everything back up, and
pumping up the tire. I’ll spare you the details and leave some
resources below in case you want to do this. Brake pads come in many varieties, and they’re
optimized for different uses. For instance high speed pads work best once
they heat up, while comfort pads work optimally right away but fade in performance if they
get too hot. Upgrading your brake pads it not expensive
in the least, and it’s very easy to do. New brake pads need to be bedded in before
use, and we covered that in another video. Right now, it’s too nasty out to go bed
my brake pads, so let’s see if we can figure out a way to do it indoors. Maybe just watch my other video and do it
the normal way. If you have a two by or three by drivetrain,
it means you have shifting up at the front of your bike as well. While this does provide a lot of range and
gearing options, it’s also more complex. I actually snapped a chain right here because
it got tangled up in my wheel, and I’m not surprised. If you’re okay with losing a bit of range,
you can go one by. This involves removing all your front chainrings,
a length of chain, your front derailleur, shift cable, and shifter. In their place: this relatively inexpensive
single speed chainring. Since single speed chainrings don’t need
to shift, their teeth can be optimized to hold the chain on, and performing such a conversion
can improve reliability, make your bike quieter, increase ground clearance, reduce cockpit
clutter, and reduce the weight of your bike by a whole pound. Of course, in my case I installed a larger
11 speed cassette and Box One derailleur, but that’s going to be out of reach for
this video. I hope you found some of these upgrades useful
or at the very least, entertaining. Do check out the links and resources in the
description, as well as my previous cheap upgrades video that I made back in 2016. Now at any budget you can improve your bike’s
performance, increase its longevity, or at least give yourself the illusion that you’re
doing so. Thanks for riding with me today, and I’ll
see you next time.
Bike hacks:
When you are biking after it rains or whenever there’s water (puddles, creeks, lakes) and don’t want to bring a water bottle, bring a Sawyer Squeeze on your next adventure! It’s tiny and inconspicuous, and it barley takes up any space and weighs almost nothing. It’s a water filter that can clean any water when you drink out of it’s straw. Just bring it with you in your frame, and you won’t need to bring heavy water.
Hos about the chainstay protector?
Bash guard is the best money saver of all these upgrades…saves you money down the road
Those pedal pins are literally just a set screw (the Amazon link now goes to a set of allen screws with a securing nut), you can probably find them at Lowes for 6 cents a piece. Throw a little loctite on it yourself and screw them in. Probably cost way less overall for a couple bags of hardware at a store.
Why do you sound like yammi
Is it fun or okay to convert my 3×8 to a 1×8?
Can you please make more of this video
Lmao the doggo was like TF
00:09-Is this the New River Gorge (WV) canyon rim trail.?
0:14 what's bike is that?
If you have a hard time getting the traction screws out of your pedals, try putting a little kroil on first. If you have to go on to drilling and extractors, get some left hand twist bits of the proper size for your extractor. With a little luck they spin right out and if not you at least tried and it's on to the extractor. There's some other things but that's usually plenty for any small fasteners.
4:34 Minecraft?
My upgrade was 1×12 sram eagle NX drive train system,tubeless tires, pivot carbon bars, pivot stem(35mm clamp). Chester pedals. Next upgrade sram gold chain and funn bash guard
i quit mtb cuz i never got into it. but i still watch ur vids out of the entertainment it gives me
is there a good reason why basicly every mtb in europe has schrader valves (and many casual bikes Dunlop valves) while in the US many still have the Sclaverand valves?
Man at BOS u have to disasambel the half fork
I prefer my derailleurs to be kinky.
Im going to convert my Scott Aspect 960 to Tubeless and 11 speed no questions asked.
I don’t need a 45dolar bash gard I just youse my 3 ring on the front
my pedals dont have those
pegs
Will the bash guard work on a Diamondback Release 3?
Just got a mtb (cheapo one to start with) and it has been working great for me. I am wondering about going tubeless. Does it matter what size the tire is? (Mine is a 26")
Seth: Struggles to take pin out
Also Seth: Proceeds to use high strength (red) threadlocker
Your dog is too cute😎
Probably to late to be noticed but. I just started mountain biking, or trails more like. With my friend and I have an old trek 3700, any upgrades I could do to make it better? Or what bike replacement could I get for a more inexpensive price that would work well.
nice dog with a golden chain )
Can i ise a volume spacer on suntour fork?
What for a go pro do you use with youre mtb routes
you're really good at filming stuff
So glad my pedals aren't the only ones that look like they've been through a rock tumbler.
For the little pedal pins try a similarly sized torx bit and tap it in with a hammer. Usually works
Seth, love your vids.
Please wear safety glasses when using power tools! 🤙🏻
what was the thing you used to lube the chain?
Love your stuff
I've reduced a weight of my bike by 25 pounds by removing 25 pounds of body fat, and saved bunch of money in process too 😉
and here a tip from a realy proffessional: do you never use a spray for disc brake bikes – please think about it
What if your totaly friggin broke
How much chain do u take off when converting to a 1x?
If you use chain oil you should always wipe any excess of oil with a cloth and your chain will also be relatively clean after a ride.
%
I have cyclocross cuz my country dosen't have mountains
No brain cells were harmed in the viewing of this video.
I need some help. I just got my first bike since like 7 years ago (I'm 15). It's a mtb. When the seat is at the lowest point it's at the same level as the handlebars. How could I get the seat just about 5 cm lower?
Thanks Seth!
I will clean my bike…I will!
….do you wanna clean it?!
Ehrenmann
Heat those pins on the pedals with a small torch. Just the pins. They come right out.
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Best Video
I don't have a monten bike I wich I get one soon
Don’t use that cyclone chain cleaner. It wrecks your bearings and the chain. It cleans the good stuff and the bad stuff.
Do you know which stealth axle I need for my Specialized Rockhopper?
use side cutters to extract stripped screws/pegs , bite into the sides, straight on and twist out. works almost every time.
His face 6:49
How is the murder machine before the singlespeed conversion in this video
Its at 0:13
In my country Mt bike tyres cost $89 sign so yeah
nobody:
wheel:
2:15 G I R T H
11 speed chains for 25$?
Xtr/dura ace ones go for at least 33€/upwards35$ here in europe
Or maybe a kcnc drive chain/kmc dlc chain for 80€
Cheers some stuff I didn’t know about here
What's on your finger you digging for gold? 3:25
I got a hack for you to get those pesky pins out of the pedals… use a small welder and weld a washer to it. It gives you more substance to grip. I use this trick a lot to remove broken bolts in my line of work.
I was looking for cheap motocross bike accessories, and I came across this channel. I’m addicted and I don’t even own a downhill bike😂
Pause
5:17
My flat pedals pins are engraved in it can’t get it out
There are pliers from "Vampliers" that are great at removing worn down studs.
(6.35) you’re insane
The chain thing made me laugh so hard for some reason😂 I’m subscribing
Had to subscribe, and I don't even own a MTB. I could watch this all day. It's so relaxing and informative and entertaining… Gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, even on the rainiest of days. 🙂
Seth " tyres don't even make the cut " … shows us a threw axel
This channel has inspired me to get a mounten bike
Can i use WD40 to lube my chain
gold chain 😂
Just caught this video! such a solid bunch of tips Seth ❤️🤙
I just notice if you add another X before the word box you can pronounce it xbox one lol
File a slit in screw head, use flat head bit with power drill….Bam!, peddles ready for face lift 🤙
i dont even have sticky rim tape on my tubeless setup and my rims have spoke holes in them. stan's race sealant does the job
Best way to get those studs out is with left handed drill bits, they either grip and spin it out or drill it out so you can tap it. They sell them at harbor freight
I have a cannondale trail 7, is it worth it to change my bike from 2×9 to 1×9 or something?
skiddy cat cat
The best upgrade seems to be the cute dog.
No French bulldogs were harmed. Lol
How about 21 speed
Hey Seth, I was thinking about converting from 2 by 10 gearing to 1 by 20. Does that even exist? Also what would you recommend if it's possible?
6:48 HE LOOKS LIKE THE GRINCH BUT NOT GREEN HAHAHA XD
How do you remove rust inside your hydraulic fork??
Add a dab of anti-seize (auto store) to the peddle pin threads and they won't stick next time you have to change them out.
I allways use 10-speed chains for 8 and 9 speed bikes, it makes for smoother shifting and less contact noise.
The only downside is that your front deraileur might drop the chain if it's cage is wide, this can be modified.
I had huge issues with noises on my trek road bike, the chain was touching the front deraileur or the bigger sprocket depending on what gear i chose on the cassette, went from 8 to 10 speed chain and it's perfect!
why your all bikes diamondback ? 🙂
another cheap upgrade is a bottle cage that can hold a pump on the Side
You should do top 10 best tires
Haha his face when doing the brake pad thing
Chain oil is actually great, Seth's experiment is misleading.
Apply oil to the individual rivets of the chain so that it soaks right in. Before riding again use lint-free cloth or newspaper to wipe all excess oil off the chain and it won't attract dirt.
I use car gearbox oil on my chains, it's high-performance and has the right viscosity and composition for the job. It's also a third to a quarter the price of bicycle-specific oils by volume.
My bike has 2×9 should i make it 1 by?
I love drama with the gold chain
Anti kink endcaps?? Awww i tought we weren't kinkshaming 🙁
Keep 2 hands on the angle grinder as much as possible i cant tell u the things they will do to fingers and i was lucky
If you switch to schrader valves you can get 10% performance gain from performance valve caps.
Left hand drill bits are great for removing stuck screws (like pedal pins).
Buy a cheap set & use them only when you have to – or buy a good set & use them more. They spin the opposite direction and will usually back out the screw when they bite in. If not, you'll have a hole for a screw extractor.
Aluminum doesn’t rust smh
My tires are tough Tom they cost me $11 each such a good deal
I love Seth ❤
Where can i buy these?
(Not amazon)