5 minutes of boring bike maintenance with James May 

James, is this your audition tape for being our new GCN tech presenter? Give us a call!

5 minutes of boring bike maintenance - "Meh" with James May - *click*

In all my years of watching James May, he's the last person I expected to see sitting on a chair with his length of wood sticking out.

There should be a whole series of James teaching us the best way to do boring odd jobs around the house.

Remember when he did a 54 minute documentary about Bicycle Maintenance. It's still the best documentary ever.

Normal person: “a card” James May: “my British airways executive gold membership card”

This was more exciting than 99% of all content from today's "influencers"

As a bike mechanic, I couldn't appreciate this enough, it consists my life's two obsessions, top gear and bikes

I like how James rides a nice but still affordable bike

He should really have his own show: The Maintenance of Things.

I can imagine James checking his frame for scratches and cracks after every ride lol

I like how he said his bike brakes were perfect, as he set them up himself. A man after my own heart.

5 Minutes? I demand at least 1 hour! Also he should bring back something like the reassembler...

He could talk about anything and we'd all still watch it tbh

Is no one gonna mention the fact that he's wearing a "Hey Bim!" T-Shirt? :D

In future. James May: How to change a lightbulb at home. Me: Interesting

And in this week's show : James plays with his wood.

As a cycle technician I approve of toe in.

I know nothing about bikes and didn’t know what he was talking about, but still watched the whole video.

A complete occasional bike maintenance series would be a gift that keeps giving. The more intricate and involved the better. The disassembling cycle mechanic, yes please .

id watch u paint a wall my friend. cant wait for the new grand tour. 🙏🙏 😁😁

You say “boring” I say still better than new Top Gear.

Mr May, you are my hero! Been trying to diagnose a shudder under braking and this has solved it. We are not worthy!

I'm a cyclist and of course i did watch this. But still i have to say that James May can make.. i think almost everything interesting, there is no limits. Even watching grass growing or paint drying on the wall can be a great "show" with captain slow. One of the best blokes i have ever seen. Cheers!

As a professional bike mechanic and former shop owner, great to see this type of info get to the masses!

Loving the variety from James lately and it’s nice that he’s still uploading, a somehow soothing watch. Thanks James!

never, never thought I'd be enjoying a previous TG presenters information on my favourite hobby cycling. James May well done 👏

This was exactly what I needed. I watched about 10 different "tutorials" on how to fix the screaming and scratching my brakes were doing and then I watched this video. I don't want to jump to conclusions but after watching this and doing the same method, my bike is braking perfectly again. I hope it stays like this. Some man. Thanks James

That's an interesting way to hold your wood, James

James knows more than the people who assembled my bike as they couldn't even align the brake blocks to the rims! The shop that rhymes with...Balfords

I just want this. James may doing his rambling teaching! Love it!

That’s really great Top Gear expert advice James. It’s always wise to toe in soft brake blocks so that the leading edge of the blocks wear down to a smooth ramp shape. Then when the rest of the pad compresses onto the rim, it’s shorter and has less material to wear out. Also, the front ramp sweeps away rainwater and mud, keeping the rest of the block bone dry and clean. The correct toe-in spacing is not, in fact, a gold credit card thickness, but it is measured with the end of the small finger. The brake block clamping nut is never tightened so that the block can float into contact with the rim. It is always vital to ensure that the open end of the brake block shoe always faces in the direction of travel of the bicycle to ensure adequate brake block cooling. Next week, an advice video of how to correctly toe-in disc brake pads and keep them dry will complete the tutorial. I hope this advice provides you with many happy hours of cycling.

Brilliant tip James! I agree brake block toe in is essential and improves the feel and efficiency of the brakes. In practise however, setting them up like that has always been a trial and error job with lots of faffing about. I've simply found when setting the brake in the desired position, tightening it up moves everything about, so I have to set it first slightly wrong, with this movement in mind, so when tightening, it goes into the right position. Sometimes it works first time other times it takes ages to get right! But your credit card trick looks like it simplifies this process tremendously! I'll use that technique next time.👍😎

James makes anything interesting

As always, watching James May giving you a "How To" guide on anything is nothing short of enjoyable and informative. It would be great to see more things like this in the future!! It reminds me a bit of 'Man Lab 'and 'The Reassembler' - I love it!

Love this! Combining my love for cycling with my favorite carshow host. More of this please!

Can we get James and Park Tool collaboration some day? James May and Calvin Jones in same video!

Wow, an actual youtube video which is helpful. Thank you, Sir James May.

As a bicycle mechanic for some 20 years, this made me happy. Thank you. I would teach maintenance classes for the public and this topic always came up.

Thanks James, an excellent and informative video. Yes please for lots more cycle maintenance videos. I use a hand-cycle myself as I’m a wheelchair user; but a lot of the set up information is transferable. Set up is so important and often overlooked :)

Love these vids. Perfect for touch of Bim. Please keep making them ❤️

This was the best thing i've seen all day, I'm not even joking

Thank you James for this Video. I have finally at the ripe age of 40, discovered how to prevent squaky brakes and I love it. Why did I not think to toe them in? So much was I inspired by this, that I researched even how to adjust the derailers so we now have bikes that actually work 100%. Thanks again.

I have three mountain bikes with disk brakes, Nishiki and Diamondback including a DB 29er but I still watch this because James May is awesome, I would literally watch you trim nose and ear hairs to see if there’s a better method than mine. Thanks Capt Slow.

I love the in-joke with his T-shirt. I also learnt something about bicycle brakes!

I'd like for him to do more model train maintenance videos. That was a fun watch.

Yes, we need more of these bike maintenance with May videos💪🏼

This is excellent. I would love to see more of these. Very useful for someone like me who only takes the bike out once or twice a month and also knows nothing about this sort of thing.

Jeremy Clarkson has left the chat

"JAMES STOP FILING!"-Jeremy Clarkson

There are so many kids today who've no idea how to do this simple yet effective bit of maintenance. Keep up the instructional videos they're GOLD . Thankfully there is Mr May!

I am so grateful to be able to see this, James is a great humble guy.

Seeing thumbnail: "nah don't need this never use my bike" Reading title: "okay fine, I need it"

Hmmm, interesting, does that mean that next grand tour episode will be about bikes?

The bike maintenance bit makes it exciting.

I just love that documentary voice of his. So pleasant to hear, more so than anyone in my ken.

Watching this makes me miss shows like Man Lab and The Reassembler.

I will watch *anything* with James May in it.

I enjoyed watching this. Please post more of this.

You have just reminded me of my childhood Awesome James. Love it

5:08 this is a whole new definition of James may!

I am asking this out of genuine concern. Anyone else notice the head-shaking he had going on? I hope everything is alright. Seeing these videos reminds me of how much I miss these guys. I am going right now to rewatch all episodes of "The Reassembler"

This is cool, as a cyclist having my favorite presenter ever talking about bikes is just wholesome.

Very helpful. I always fiddled about for what seemed like hours to get the toe in. Best advice and delivered simply

If James took that for a road test then Jeremy would have run him down 😂😂😂

Nobody: Still nobody: Me: *James May The Reasembler flashbacks*

Love the bike maintenance! Keep it coming for sure!

James, you explained why this is done far better than most of the online tutorials. More please.

RIP White Dial Rolex Oyster Perpetual 39mm 😢😢😢 @Ben Patchett & @Benoit - Thank you for identifying the right watch. I did spot the polished center link and the clasp but the Milgauss never occurred. Blinded by disappointment of 2020 & Rolex announcement. Really loved the 39mm white OP

Jheeeze man like James slowly turning into a roadman. You’ll see him this winter wearing a puffer jacket with his bredrins chilling outside some estate in south London.

This is actually great advice. It genuinely helped, as I was having this exact issue with my bike during harder braking. Thank you James, -Luis

James May is THE GUY !!!!! Thanks a lot.

May's bike hacks 😂 Welcome back to drive tribe, I'm captain slow. Today we're doing something different, but... kind of the same.

I've never seen someone flex his BMW, Ferrari and Gold Card and Rolex so unbothered. Have a like.

Just amazed at how much depth you can talk about the simplest of technical subjects.

Love to see more bike videos and see James service his bike

He looks like 60 year old Mattia Binotto with his glasses on.

0:28 honestly this whole thing could be taken out of context

This is exactly what I was looking to find months ago! Perfect!

This man cures my insomnia! Thanks

Imagine James may in Lycra 😂

He's got a ferrari in the background but only shimano 105?

I was a bike mechanic for years and never knew this trick! What a brilliant video

Did my toe in brake blocks on my new brakes a few weeks ago, works a treat!

Hey Bim, guess what?

Me:"Is there a way to learn how to adjust my brakes with toe in??" James May:"Not from anyone else on RU-vid..."

Love this! Proper maintenance with explanations of the physical forces involved. I'd love to see EVERY James May explanation that either Hammond or Clarkson cut off on TG or GT. All. Of. Them.

Please please do more of these!! It would be cool to see a collection of your bicycles

I want to see how long it takes him to disassemble and reassemble a bike it’ll be a OCD crazy video

Build a whole bike!!! :-)

I’ve been riding for years. Never thought of that. Awesome tip. Thanks !

Fantastic James, thank you.

So all those years while Clarkson was making jokes about wanting to run over cyclists he was presenting next to a keen cyclist?

When he mentioned the A grades he meant Clarkson if I’m not mistaken.

Perfect advice, well delivered! Thanks

I love Mays boring manuals xD he makes things so clear and honestly I'm entertained I hope they let him do more of these

James should "borrow" Hammond's bike and finish it for him.

Why is no one talking about when he put that wood between his legs and demonstrates the block breaks by putting it at the end of the wood between his legs?? 0:30

Thanks for that info, I think, I was not aware but am not sure it will make a difference. But now am going to have to try it !

I’m really into bikes and bike maintenance and this a fantastic tip. I will do this tonight on my bike!