Bike maintenance checklist: Keep your bike in top condition

After a winter spent mostly pedaling indoors, your bike likely needs a bit of tender loving care before it’s ready for outdoor riding. If you’ve never wrenched on a bicycle before, it may seem a little overwhelming, but basic bike maintenance is actually pretty easy! 

You should perform a quick check of your bike before each ride. Depending on how much you ride, you may be adding chain oil (and wiping the excess off) every day or once a week. Check your tire pressure as well, adding air when needed. 

During a heavy riding season, I do basic tasks like thoroughly cleaning the drivetrain every couple of weeks. Keeping your bike clean means less maintenance – and fewer costly repairs and replacements – in the long run. 

You may be able to get by with tools you already have in your garage – hex keys, wrenches, and so on – but if you’re starting out, I recommend buying a bicycle-specific maintenance tools. A basic home mechanic kit will have most of the gear you need to change out a chain or cassette, tighten handlebars and brake levers, and replace a tire. I’d supplement that with a 5-gallon bucket, sponges, hard-bristle brushes, and dish detergent for cleaning the drivetrain, as well as your preferred chain lubricant. 

Having a quality work stand makes wrenching on a bike so much easier. I’ve used mine for more than a decade and it works perfectly with all but my heaviest e-bikes. If you're riding an e-bike, check out our guide for essential care and maintenance tips to keep it running smoothly. 

As you get more experienced and you start doing more work on your Canyon, you may decide to invest in other tools, like a good torque wrench. 

Before each ride, give your Canyon a once over. Remember your alphabet – both your ABCs (air, brakes, and chain) and the letter M. 

The ABC’s are pretty self-explanatory. A is for air; make sure the air in your tires is at the proper PSI, and if it’s not, inflate them. B is for brakes; squeeze the levers to make sure your bike is stopping correctly. Listen for any squeaking or other odd noises and check your pads for wear. C is for chain; make sure the chain and cogs are clean, well-lubed, and spinning properly. 

An M check is a more thorough inspection of the bike, starting at the rear wheel. From there, you want to follow an M pattern along the bike, moving up to the seat post, down to the pedals and drivetrain, up to the handlebars, and back down to the front wheel. 

Having a clean and properly lubricated drivetrain may be the easiest way to keep your bike running smooth and fast. To extend times between thorough cleanings, many mechanics recommend wiping your bike and chain down after every ride. Unfortunately, most riders (including myself) don’t do this as often as we should. 

You know your drivetrain is well overdue for a cleaning when black gunk starts accumulating on your chain and cogs. When that happens – preferably before it happens – break out the cleaning supplies. Fill the bucket with warm, soapy water and use a sponge and brushes to clear out all the nasty dirt and lube residue. Be sure to get each link of your chain and in-between the cogs. Cleaning your pedals probably wouldn’t hurt either. Make sure your pedals and cleats aren’t too worn. Check out this article with expert guidance on how to replace and install cycling cleats.

After your drivetrain is nice and sparkly, dry it with clean rags. Now it’s time to lube your chain. If you have unlimited patience, you can slowly spin the chain, making sure each pin gets a tiny drop of lubricant. If you’d rather be riding, spin the pedals and squirt a stream of lube onto the chain, making sure you’ve done at least one chain revolution. It’s a lot quicker, but also messier and more wasteful. Be sure to take another clean rag and wipe off all the excess lubricant. For a more in-depth discussion about clean drivetrains, click on this article with step-by-step instructions on cleaning your chain. 

Remember, a clean bike is a fast bike!

No matter if you ride a road bike or a city bike - tire pressure preferences can be even more personal than lube choices. Every rider has a certain pressure they feel gives them the best combination of comfort and speed. The higher the PSI, the faster you roll, but it can be a hard, bumpy ride. Lowering the PSI gives you a wider contact patch with the road and more comfort, but at the expense of speed. It’s up to you to experiment to find the right pressure for you. (Read this article for more thorough instructions on finding your preferred PSI.) 

One more thing to consider when it comes to tire pressure is the weather and where you’re riding. No matter whether you ride a road bike or a city bike, if conditions are sub-optimal due to rain, ice, or snow, you’ll want to lower your pressure so more of the tire is in contact with the ground, giving you more stability. Likewise, if you’re riding rough terrain – like on a mountain bike – you want more rubber on the road for better grip and control. 

Your brakes are arguably the most important equipment on your bike. Keeping them in working order is a must. (Using them properly on the road or in a race is a must as well; check out this article if you want to learn how to brake like a pro.) 

Squeezing the brake levers, you should know pretty quickly if your brakes are working correctly or not. When setting up your bike for the first time, beware of brake rub, when your rotor rubs against the pad as you’re pedaling.  

Be sure to keep an eye on your brake pads and rotors over the course of your riding season. You should replace the pads if they’re under the minimum thickness recommended by the manufacturer or showing significant wear. If you notice a ridge on your rotors from the unused portion to where the pads rub against the rotor, you should replace them. 

When you’re checking your brakes, be sure to give your tires a once over as well. Need to replace a worn tire? Read and watch step-by-step instructions on how to change a tire. 

If you notice your chain slipping or your shifting not being as crisp as you’d like, check the drivetrain. If the edges of your cogs are starting to look like shark fins, it’s time to replace them. With the proper tools, changing a cassette couldn’t be easier. 

• Remove the rear wheel from the bike and the thru axle from your cassette. 
• Use a chain whip to the cassette so ensure it doesn’t spin. 
• Insert the removal tool into the lockring, wrenching left to losen it. Remove. 
• Pick the cassette up from the bottom, lifting directly up. Cassettes are typically multiple pieces, so be sure to squeeze both the top and bottom so everything stays in place. 

After wiping down the surrounding area, it’s time to put on the new cassette. 

• After finding the raised notches on the freehub, line them up with the cassette grooves. 
• Slide on each piece of the cassette in order, making sure they line up perfectly with the ridges on the freehub. 
• After each piece of the cassette is in place, tighten the lockring. 

It’s worth noting that you don't have to replace your cassette every time you put on a new chain, but you should replace the chain every time you put on a new cassette. If you ride 4,800 - 8,000 km (3,000-5,000 miles) a year, you’ll likely need to replace your cassette at least once a season and your chain twice. Using a chain-checker tool is the easiest way to determine when it’s time to replace your chain. 

Make sure your handlebar and hoods are tight and secure, but don’t put too much muscle into it. The bolts holding them in place can only be tightened with a certain amount of pressure noted in Newton-metres, usually written next to the bolt. A torque wrench will help you tighten the bolts correctly, without doing any serious damage to your bicycle. 

Whenever you do any maintenance on your bicycle beyond lubing the chain or inflating your tires, you should take your bike for a quick spin to make sure it’s running smooth. The last thing you want to do is go for a long ride far from home, only for something to go wrong. 

With a little practice, you can master all these basic maintenance tasks. Not only will you save money, but you can also put those savings toward a new Canyon!