DreamRider85

This is pretty frustrating to be honest. I just went to the bike shop yesterday and they taught me how to change out tires and fix a flat for a road bike. But he said that mountain bikes work the same.

So here is what I'm trying to do in a nutshell. My mountain bike has road type slick on them and has had them for a while. I'm trying to change out the road slicks and put back the knobby tires. I was able to take off the front tire and replace it with a knobby one. However, when I tried to spin the wheels while the bike was upside down, it wasn't spinning very freely. In other words, it would stop spinning. Now I do admit that I'm a little confused about how to push the front lever back in, but that's probably a different topic.

Now for my rear tires, I wasn't able to get them off the bike because the lever was so strong, it wouldn't budge. Is that how you take the back tire off? By releasing the lever? Because when I was at bike shop yesterday, the guy was firm that that was all I needed to do. Just release the lever. So I'm assuming I don't have to do anything with the chain?

Man, it looked so simple when he did it. Now I'm confused. But could it be because it's a mountain bike or is it true that they are all the same?

burnfatburn

have you check the brake pads ont the front wheel? are you using diskbrake or V brake? some times a minor adjusment need to make to center the brake pads and you dont need to remove the chain to remoove the rear wheel, and yes its only need to pull the quick release lever on the hub to release the wheel from frame drop out. maybe the boltcap on the orther side of hub or quickrelease too tight, it maybe causing the wheel not rotating smoothly or difficult to released from drop outs

DreamRider85

Oh I don't know if it's diskbrake or V brake. I really have no idea where to start now. How much do bike shops charge to change it out and make sure it's okay? This is a bit discouraging.

burnfatburn

relax Sir, there always a first time for everything.

if the wheel have discbrake like motorcycle on the wheel axle, thats mean it using diskbrake, if there are mechanism with brake pads at the front fork and seat stay at the position where the wheel rim surface that mean your bike using rim brake (v brake or cantilever brake, dll)

could you post the photos of your bike and close up photo where the problem is?

SpeshulEd 

The front wheel might not be spinning freely because it's seated slightly crooked. Open the quick release and jiggle the wheel a bit to see if that helps, make sure it spins freely with the quick release open.

As for the back wheel, are you saying you can't get the quick release open or once it's open you can't remove the quick release?

C Law

Bike shops charge a lot when you don't know if you have disc brakes or not. Better off not mentioning that little fact until after you've paid

spdracr39

Best bet is to take the bike to the shop and ask them to show you how to do it. I'm sure they won't charge much and if they do find a different shop for the balance of your business. It's not rocket science but it can be frustrating the first few times. There are also about a zillion you tube videos on how to do this.