You’ve invested a lot of money into your bike, so it’s important to take care of that investment. Just like a car needs maintenance from time to time, so do bikes! But what do you need to know about when it comes to taking care of a bike so that it lasts for years?
You don’t need to be a professionally trained bike mechanic to perform routine maintenance on the most important components of your bike to keep it in tip top shape. Some of these important components include:
- Drive Train
- Brakes
- Wheels
We’ll discuss each component as well as a few ways to keep each one performing at optimum condition for each time you go riding.
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Drive Train
One of the most important components of your bike is the drive train. This is a complex component that is made up of several parts. These parts include:
- Chain
- Pedals
- Crank Shaft
- Front Gear Ring
- Front Derailer (if you have a bike that has front shifters)
- Rear Derailer (if you have a bike that has rear shifters)
- Rear Cassette
Each of these parts works in sync with one another to give your bike the mechanical advantage you need to move forward. It’s imperative that you keep each of these parts clean and properly lubed after every ride.
Before you ride, be sure that your drive train is functioning properly by doing a small ride around the parking lot. Shift through all of your gears and ensure that each time you shift, the chain goes to where it needs to be smoothly. If you hear any excess clanking or the chain doesn’t move on the gear rings, you’ll want to be sure to take a closer look to see if something is off. Often times, issues with shifting should be handled by a bike shop because they have the tools and knowledge to properly adjust your bike so that it shifts as smooth as butter.
When you’re done riding, be sure to give your drive train a good wipe down to remove all of the dirt and grime it accumulates throughout each ride. Start with the chain by using a clean shop cloth to wipe it down completely. Once you’re able to cycle your chain through your cloth and have the cloth come back clean, move on to your front and rear gears. Follow the same procedure of wiping off all of the excess oil and grime.
Once you’ve got a clean drive train, get a bit of chain lubricant, and lightly coat the chain by cycling the chain around the drive train while you slowly drip lubricant on it. By doing this, you’ll get lubricant on not only your chain, but your entire drive train as well.
After everything is lubed up, cycle your gears so that each sprocket on your front gear ring and your rear cassette gets a light coating of lube. Wipe up any excess lube and you’re done!
Brakes
After your drive train, your brakes are the most important component to take care of. Brakes will keep you from getting hurt because they help you regulate your speed as you ride and ultimately help you come to a complete stop. Taking care of them is a top priority!
Start by assessing what style of brakes your bike has. The two main types of brakes are:
- Rim brakes
- Disc brakes
Rim brakes can be found inside the top part of your fork in the front and on top of the wheel in the rear. These slow your bike down by grabbing the rim of the wheel to create friction whenever you squeeze the brake lever. You’ll know that it’s time to service or replace rim brakes when you go to squeeze the brakes and your lever goes all the way down to your handlebar before you get any response from your brakes.
Disc brakes are found near the hub of your wheel. There are two parts to pay attention to with disc brakes:
- The disc
- The pads
Of the two parts on disc brakes, the pads wear out way faster than the disc. Similar to rim brakes, it’s time to service or replace the pads of your disc brakes when you pull the brake lever, and it goes all the way to the handlebars before the brakes engage.
Wheels
Another key component to take care of are your wheels. These include the following components:
- Wheel rim
- Spokes
- Tire
- Inner tube
Each of these pieces are integral to maintaining the integrity of your wheels. The rim should be smooth with no signs of dents. This is because you need the spokes to have a stable platform to attach to, so your wheels maintain their shape, even after going over rough bike terrain.
Before each ride, be sure to ensure your wheel rim and spokes are tight and free of any defects. Test the tightness of your spokes by gently pinching them together. If they move a significant amount, tighten your spokes down with a special spoke tightening tool or just take it to a bike shop and they can do it for you.
Your tires and inner tubes are also important to maintain as they are the main contact points your bike has with the ground. Inspect your tires to ensure that there is still plenty of tread and that it’s been wearing evenly. If you notice uneven wear or that your tread has decreased significantly, it may be time to replace the tires.
Inner tubes can be maintained by ensuring that you have sufficient air pressure in each one. Check the side walls of your tires for the specs on how much PSI you should keep your bike at.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, maintaining these components are an essential part of riding bikes. They keep your bike moving (and more importantly stop it from moving) reliably each time you go for a ride. Don’t be afraid to search YouTube for detailed tutorials on how to upkeep each component. A great channel that will help you learn all of the ins and outs of proper bike maintenance is Park Tools. They’ve got step by step guides on how to fix practically any issue you run into!
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And if you don’t feel comfortable doing the maintenance yourself, don’t hesitate to take your bike into a bike shop to get the work done professionally. In either case, take care of your bike and your bike will continue to take care of you!
