Reddit reviews Pedro's Pig Pen II Drivetrain Maintenance Kit One Color, One Size

Edit: Take two with some input thanks to u/LukeWarmCage for teaching me some Reddit knowledge. We all learning lessons today...

My same post from before:

I was gonna suggest something similar. I've always been mechanically inclined, taking apart things like RC cars as a kid to see how they worked. But I got into road biking with zero experience working on bikes. I now have 6 bikes and do 90% of the maintenance on all of them myself. I learned most things from books and Youtube, when I would get stuck I'd take a bike to my LBS and make sure to ask them what I was doing wrong. Usually they are happy to offer advice and direct me toward a tool or technique I was missing. The only thing now that I'm not comfortable working on myself still are things involving bearings, especially if they are press fit. I don't have the tools to work on them and don't want to damage something trying to go without. I've been slowly converting my bikes from hubs with open bearings to cartridge bearings because I hate repacking hubs, and cartridge bearings last long enough that I don't mind taking a wheel to a shop for new bearings when needed.

u/dinkinflickin (great name BTW) While by now I have a pretty sizable selection of bike tools and a stand, you can do a lot of the stuff your bike needs regularly with really basic tools: a set of Allen wrenches, screwdrivers and maybe an adjustable wrench. Do invest a couple bucks in those plastic tire levers for fixing flats and get a chain gauge, which is a helpful little tool that tells you when you should think about replacing your bike chain. A worn out bike chain will still work fine for a while, but it is increasing the wear on your gears and they are more expensive to replace.

Things like your shifters and brakes are most likely to need occasional fine tuning. These are also both things that many new cyclists can mess up because they require some feel to get right. I've seen a lot of cyclists who notice their shifters aren't shifting smoothly and they adjust the wrong thing and make the problem worse. Here's GCN's video on indexing a rear shifter. "Indexing" is the term for getting the shifter to be properly lined up with the rear gears. This process is not easy as it takes some trial and error to learn at first, having someone show you how it's done is really helpful. Lastly since your bike is new you are unlikely to have to replace any components for a while, but as cables break in you may need to fine tune shifters. Chains, brake pads, and tires all have a finite lifespan and one of them is likely to be the first thing you replace in the first year or two.

The best thing you can do now IMO is leaning to clean and properly lubricated your bike. The grease and oils on your bike collect dirt and other contaminants and eventually turn into a gritty paste that starts doing more harm than good to the components. Keeping the bike clean and lubricated will reduce wear and protect your bike from corrosion. GCN also has a bunch of videos about cleaning and oiling bikes. Too much oil can be just as bad as too little because it picks up dirt. A chain cleaner like this one makes cleaning your chain much easier as you don't have to remove it from the bike.

This is a nice post with a lot of effort put into it. A shame it wasn't seen for most of a day because it was lingering at the bottom of the spam bin due to having a horrific Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/Pedros-Drivetrain-Maintenance-Color-Size/dp/B079YP2F6W/ref=asc_df_B079YP2F6W/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309768114180&hvpos=1o4&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4383159919103372279&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=aud-801381245258:pla-568628871067&psc=1

is way too much bullshit tracking crap.

Simply trim the end off that link to:

https://www.amazon.com/Pedros-Drivetrain-Maintenance-Color-Size/dp/B079YP2F6W/

if you don't want Automod to silently remove your posts.

Trim that to:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079YP2F6W/

if you want to be real tidy.