Basic Bike Maintenance
Things you may need:
- Chain Lubricant (Triflow, Dumonde Tech, etc. Nothing wax based.)
- Rags (not terry cloth)
- Old toothbrush
- Machinist pick/long pin/dull needle
- Simple Green or other mild degreaser
- Fine grit sand paper
- Wipe down chain with a dry rag. Remove any excess grease and as much dirt as possible.
- Deflate tires and use pick to remove glass and debris from tires. Be sure to reinflate tires to recommended maximum PSI.
- Use toothbrush or rag to remove any build up grime from rear derailleur pulley wheels and around bottom bracket.
- Use a dry rag to remove dirt and dust from brakes and brake pads (especially braking surface).
- Using either a small amount of degreaser or just a dry rag, clean dirt and dust from braking surface of rims. (Residue from the cleaner may cause squealing initially. It will burn off in time or you can try removing it with a damp rag.)
In addition to the weekly tasks:
- Remove the rear wheel and use a rag or toothbrush to the clean the cogs of the cassette or freewheel (including between them).
- Use toothbrush to clean the chain rings as thoroughly as possible.
- Replace the rear wheel. Keeping the applicator close to the chain, apply a moderate amount of lubricant to the length of the chain.
- Shift through the gears or take the bike around the block, let the lubricant penetrate the chain.
- Use a clean rag to wipe off as much lubricant from the outside of the chain as possible.
- Using a clean rag and degreaser, clean the frame. Pay attention to the areas surrounding the bottom bracket and headset. Clean the hubs, spokes, and rims as well.
- Use a bit of fine grit sand paper to lightly sand the braking surface of the brake pads. This will help remove and dirt that has become embedded in the rubber.
Tips and Techniques to Extend the Life-Span of Your Bike Parts
Rims & Brakes
Your front brake is your most affective brake. It will stop you more efficiently than your rear brake. It also stays cleaner than your rear brake. Focusing your braking on the front will help your rims and brake pads last longer, as well as stop you more quickly.
The dirt that builds up on rims and brake pads is a combination of road grime and bits of metal from the rims themselves. When this grit gets between the rims and brake pads, it acts like sand paper and erodes both surfaces.
As the braking surface of the rim is worn down, the integrity of the rim is lessened. At some point, the pressure exerted on the rim by the inflated tires can be too much for the rim to withstand. The sidewall of the rim can separate from the rest, sometimes violently so. Frequently, this happens while pumping up the tires before a ride. It can and does happen while on the road, with potentially dangerous results.
Checking the wear on your rims from time to time can help prevent this sort of failure. Most modern rims have some sort of wear indicator built into the braking surface. Whether or not yours do, you can check for deep grooves and/or the surface becoming concave or flaring out at the outer edge. These are signs that your rims should be replaced sooner rather than later. There really is no way to guarantee how long a worn out rim will last.
Wheels:
Regular use can and will affect how true and round your wheels are. The spokes of a wheel can lose tension over time. Riding over rough roads, hitting bumps or potholes, and carrying heavy loads can exacerbate this.
From time to time, check the wheels for any hops or wobbles. Simply lift the bike in a stand or flip it upside down so the wheels can spin freely. Spin a wheel and watch the braking surface in relation to the brake pads. Try not to pay to much attention to the tire. The rim should spin without any hops, flat spots, or wobbling closer to the brake pads at any point.
Once a wheel starts to become out of true or round, it can rapidly get worse. This can lead to drag on the brakes, broken spokes, or permanently damaged rims.
Drivetrain
The drivetrain of your bicycle includes the chain, the cassette or freewheel, and the chain rings. The part that needs the most attention and replacement is the chain. As the chain is used and exposed to dirt and stress, it stretches. Effectively, this means the distance between the links is getting bigger. As the chain stretches, it wears the teeth on the cassette, and eventually the chain rings, to match. A new chain can skip over these teeth as they don’t engage properly. An old chain on a worn cassette can have similar issues. In both cases, the new parts will quickly wear out to match the others.
If the chain is replaced before it has stretched past a certain point, the new chain will work just fine without replacing the cassette. For 8 and 9 speed chains, we recommend replacing them between .5-.75 stretch (chain stretch gauges range from 0-1.0). 10 speed chains are best replaced at .5. However, riding styles and conditions vary for everybody and whether or not your cassette will skip depends on many different factors.
There are some ways to help get more miles out of each chain. Keeping your chain clean and properly lubricated will help prevent premature wear. Riding in a lower (easier) gear so that your cadence is higher and you apply less pressure on the pedal stroke puts less stress on the drivetrain.
You can preserve your cassette by varying the gears you ride in. Spending most of your time in one gear combination will most assuredly wear that cog out faster than the others, leading to replacing the cassette sooner. Staying in one chain ring and only shifting in the rear will wear that chain ring down faster than necessary. Practice shifting from one chain ring to another more frequently and find where your gear combinations overlap.
However, be cautious of “cross chaining,” riding in your smallest chain ring and smallest cog or vice-versa. This places undue sideways pressure on the chain, cassette, and chain rings as well as stress on the rear derailleur. In certain set ups it can severely damage your rear derailleur.