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www.bikefriday.com
800-777-0258 • +1-541-687-0487
New Bicycle Tips and Maintenance Recommendations
Unlike other new bicycles purchased from a shop, your Bike Fri-
day PakiT has been disassembled partly and placed in a suitcase
or box. Then it was shipped across town, the country or the
world.
As with any new bicycle, your Bike Friday will need several
minor adjustments as it “settles in.” Knowing how to use barrel
adjusters on brakes and derailleurs and adjust spring tension on
brakes will help you through this settling in period. These skills
are also handy for when you travel with your bike.
Your local bike shop can help, or, check out the excellent
adjustment and repair guides at Park Tool Company’s website:
http://www.parktool.com/repair.
The Initial Break-in Period
It is reasonable to expect that a new bicycle will have an initial
break-in period where adjustments will need to be made after
a hundred-ish miles. The following items may occur or need at-
tention during this break in period:
• Brake and derailleur cables may stretch. You can perceive
this as you squeeze the brake lever and you have to squeeze
farther than previously OR you have to squeeze so far be-
fore the pads contact the rims that there is not sufficient
braking force.
• Some bearing surfaces, notably some headsets, might settle
in after some use. If they are properly adjusted after this
initial break in period, they tend to then hold that adjust-
ment for a much longer period of time.
• For square taper bottom bracket (and the correspond-
ing crankset), it is a good idea to use an 8mm hex / Allen
wrench to ensure the crank bolt is tight.
Bike Friday Maintenance
