Tips Archive:

Hot Tip of the Month- June 2003: "Levelers, Scratched Floors, Unbalanced bikes."
Every bike usually has 4 levelers on the bottom or underside of the bike. These act as leveling devices and prevent the bike from damaging flooring. The first issue is trying to adjust the levelers and not being able to move them up and down or adjust them. Rusting usually causes this. When a bike is new, the levelers should be completely removed and the thread barrels of the levelers should be lubricated with a waterproof poly-type lube. This will allow easy adjustment in the future. Also after have been lubed, they should be adjusted to the point that the leveler is screwed almost completely into the bike and the secondary locknut should be “locked’ to prevent the leveler from backing out. When a leveler is screwed most of the way out of the bike, and the bike is used, it will damage the threads and make future adjustments very difficult. Typically, the thread barrel of the frame will have to be re-tapped to allow the leveler to be screwed back into the frame. Finally, when the leveler is damaged or the rubber becomes torn or compromised, this will cause the damaged or exposed portion to scratch the flooring. This is fairly common in clubs that move their bikes around frequently. When this is happening, the leveler will need to be replaced.