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Wouldn't it be great if, after spending
however long off the bike, you could spend a couple of hours
tuning yourself up and then be ready to hit the road or
trails in the same shape you were in after a season of riding
or training? Yeah, it would be great, but it ain't gonna
happen for you.
But it can happen for your bike. If your
bike has sitting in the cold basement for months, covered
in cobwebs and dust, it could probably use a little TLC
before you get out this season.
It would take enough space to fill a book
if we were going to detail all of the procedures involved
in giving your bike a tune up. Instead, we're going to show
you some basic things to do, and some warning signs to look
for. If you want to really get your hands dirty, we suggest
Lennard Zinn's, "Zinn and the Art of Bike Maintenance,"
which has a road bike version and a mountain bike version.
The book is very comprehensive and very easy to understand.
On another
page we reviewed some basic home workshop tools. You're
going to need those, or at least some soft rags, some bike
lube and degreaser, some grease and some basic bike tools
(3,4,5,6,8mm allen wrenches, pliers, small screw drivers,
tire levers, a pump, cable cutters and a spoke wrench).
If you've got a workstand, pop your bike
up into that. If you don't, you can probably find another
way to prop or hang your bike up.
The first step is to clean your bike with
a soft cloth. Wipe the whole bike down. This does more than
just make your bike look pretty. It gives you a chance to
look closely at your bike.
What are you looking for? Anything that
could cause a problem later on. Are any of your cables frayed?
Are the tires in good condition? Are there any cracks on
the frame, fork, stem, bars, etc? It is far better to take
a few minutes to look for potential problems now, rather
than find out instantly later on.
Check all of the areas of the bike that
have bearings. All of the bearing assemblies have a few
things in common. If they are too tight, too loose, or have
dirt or grit in them (grinding noises), you could be causing
damage. Bearings like hubs, cranks, headsets, even pedal
spindles, need to be packed in grease and properly adjusted.
 While
you are checking your wheels, see if any of the spokes feel
loose. You can use a spoke wrench to tighten any loose spokes
without hurting the wheel, as long as you don't tighten
them too much - go about a quarter of a turn at a time.
If the wheels is warped, or rubbing the brakes when it spins,
then you'll really need to true them ("truing"
is using the spoke tension to make the wheel round and straight).
Take a good look at the tires too. Replacing bald or worn-out
tires will definitely breathe new life into a bike.
Since you were looking at your brakes when
you were spinning your wheels, this is a good time to look
further at the pads, cables, levers and the brake arms/calipers.
Brake pads should be cleaned every once in a while, as embedded
dirt and sand will wear rims down and degrade braking performance.
Also check to make sure that the pads are aligned correctly,
and aren't hitting the tire. If your cables are starting
to fray, or even if they are just old, you should probably
replace them.
Cables stretch over time and new cables
will boost brake performance. You can also spray some lube
onto the pivot area of the levers to improve the way your
brakes feel. And finally, make sure that the brakes are
aligned and are applying even pressure on the rim.
The drivetrain (the chain, cranks, pedals,
shifters, gears and cogs) can seem complicated. But basically
you'll want to keep your chain and gears lubed, but clean,
since dirt and grit will wear chains and gears out (Pedros,
makes excellent lubes and cleaners).
 Chains
also stretch over time, so there is another reason to replace
your chain if it is old. You shifter cables, like brake
cables and chains, also stretch and could also be up for
replacement. Even small things, such as incorrect cable
routing, can seriously affect shifting performance. If your
bike is having trouble shifting, find an experienced mechanic
to help you.
Now inspect the all of the allen bolts
on your bike (stem, seat, etc). If they are loose or look
rusted, chances are that there is no grease on the threads.
This can lead to creaking parts and the bolts can eventually
work themselves even looser.
Use the appropriate allen wrench and take
each one out, one by one, and apply a thin coating of grease
on the threads. When you are tightening the bolts back down,
you have to find that fine line between too tight and too
loose. This applies to ALL bolts on the bike. Torque charts
can be found online, in maintenance books, even magazines.
These charts are great, but if you don't have a torque wrench,
they are useless. Generally you'll want to tighten everything
down until it is snug, and then go just a little bit more.
Although crank arm bolts do take significantly more torque
than any other bolt on the bike.
And speaking of grease, your seatpost should
have a thin coating of grease on it, to prevent it from
getting stuck in the frame. Mark your seatpost with a piece
of tape, right where the top of the seat tube ends, before
you take it out. This way you'll be able to re-insert the
post to the same height.
 If
you've got a suspension fork, check around the seals for
excess oil. This could indicate a leak and bad seals. It
would be impossible to list all of the different forks'
maintenance procedures here, but chances are, if it has
been a while since the fork has been serviced, now is the
time. Check with your owner's manual if you want to do it
yourself, or call you local shop to schedule a fork tune-up.
Lastly, take a look at the contact points.
This is where you touch the bike, the grips or handlebar
tape and the saddle. If you taken some spills, your seat
could be ready for replacement. And like new tires and cables,
new grips or tape can also make an old bike feel new.
If you discovered any other problems or
ran into anything that you couldn't fix, head down to your
local bike shop.
The sooner you get your bike running, the
sooner that you can start working on YOUR tune-up.
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