Bicycle Care and Maintenance

[gromit]

Is there a bike store near you? I'm sure they'd let you try it out. Maybe it would be totally fine for your purposes.

 

[Usehername]

Every time? Then you're not pumping right Every time is way too much unless you always ride more than 70 miles...

Most people don't ride their bikes every day, so I'm accounting for the natural deflation in between rides. It's not just distance, but time between riding.


This [below] is better than what most people do.

I have a hybrid and I pump the tires only when they feel too flat, usually just a couple times in the season.

 

[Trunks]

I have bicycle exercise at home, i took care of it everyday.

 

[FDG]

Most people don't ride their bikes every day, so I'm accounting for the natural deflation in between rides. It's not just distance, but time between riding.

Okay, but then it's a bit vague. If you ride every 2 weeks, fine. If you ride every 2 days, that's still too much.

Is there any downside to biking with not-perfectly-full tires other than it being a bit more work?

Mmm, they're a bit less stable when you ride downhill; if you mostly ride through flat terrain, it's not a big deal

 

[Winds of Thor]

Ah, based on distance. That's a good metric. In terms of cleaning, I just wipe it with a rag and some solvent to clean. Do you recommend the whole remove chain and soak in a jar routine every time, or just once a year or two or something?

These work great..
http://www.amazon.com/Park-Tool-CM-5-Cyclone-Cleaner/dp/B00094CWA8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1340766909&sr=8-4&keywords=bicycle+chain+cleaner

Oh I have a bike question: how often do you really need to replace the chain? I've heard one year/random distances floated around, but I've had my bike for 5-6 years without any issues, riding maybe 30m/day on average for 4-5 months of the year. The gears just started skipping a bit this year so I'm guessing I've pushed it too far, unless that's something else.

(Yeah, I abuse my bike )

One way to know is to look for wear on your chainrings and rear cassette. The chain will actually stretch over use. So you can reduce your expense and limit it to just replacing the chain.

 

[gromit]

How frequently do you clean it with that tool, [MENTION=6037]Avatar7[/MENTION] ?

 

[Kayness]

Ok, painfully nooby question:
how do you clean a bicycle chain? Just with a clean, dry cloth? I've been cycling pretty regularly for over a year now and it's only occurred to me to lube the chain once (granted, I rode more than one bike) because it was getting real hard to pedal. However I didnt know how to do it properly back then - I just lubed on top of the chain.

sigh.

good thing it seems to work just fine.

 

[Stanton Moore]

Ok, painfully nooby question:
how do you clean a bicycle chain? Just with a clean, dry cloth? I've been cycling pretty regularly for over a year now and it's only occurred to me to lube the chain once (granted, I rode more than one bike) because it was getting real hard to pedal. However I didnt know how to do it properly back then - I just lubed on top of the chain.

sigh.
good thing it seems to work just fine.

There are a few ways:
-hose it down, scrub with brush, let it dry, apply 'water displacer' like WD-40, wipe clean, lube.
-Drop in container of kerosene, let soak overnight, remove, wipe dry, lube.
- mechanical chain cleaner. can be purchased at local bike shop. still need to lube.

 

[Fluffywolf]

As for maintanance and care, people have said all I came in this thread for to say already, so I really have nothing interesting to say.

But I still wanted to say this!

Would you believe it if I said I live in The Netherlands and I don't own a bicycle?

I sometimes feel I'm the only one here without one.

 

[Winds of Thor]

How frequently do you clean it with that tool, [MENTION=6037]Avatar7[/MENTION] ?

I just look for general cleanliness of the chain..if it has a fair amount of dust or grit on it, I clean it.

 

[funkadelik]

I'm wondering if anyone has had any experiences with the foldable road bicycles - I'm considering getting one of those when I relocate, for the space saving purposes, as there won't be anywhere I'll be able to keep a full-sized bike, except in the back of my car/trunk.. and that's just a hassle.

Anything I should know about the folding ones?

I've got one and it's pretty great. Super convenient for travelling, but even if you're not into that kind of thing it's a pretty good bike (it's a Schwinn). I ride it to and from work every day (about 11 km total) and the only issue I have is, because the tires are small, you have to peddle with a little extra oomph to go the same distance as a bike with bigger tires. But really, it's not that big a deal. It sits more like a cruiser than anything else and is super light so I can easily take it up and down the stairs both at home and work to store it.

As for claims of it being flimsy, I haven't had problems on that front. I mean, obviously it's not a mountain bike and you won't be doing much off-roading with it, but it suits city cycling very well.

Would you believe it if I said I live in The Netherlands and I don't own a bicycle?

Lolwut?? That's unheard of!