On The Importance Of Good Maintenance

You have to take care of your bike if you want it to take care of you. That means keeping up with your preventative maintenance. I was reminded of that on a recent ride on the Crabtree Valley trail. I started off from my house on a cool winter day. My brakes were worn and needed to be tightened, but I was cheating to squeeze in a few more rides (spoiler alert: you’ll hear that again). I was very familiar with the greenways near my house, so I could get away with it…until I decided to go on the Crabtree trail. It turns west from the Neuse trail at Anderson Point and runs parallel to the 264 bypass until it goes under the beltline and goes past Wake Med toward Crabtree Valley. It’s a good change of pace but has twists and turns and a few hills, along with detours through neighborhoods that make it harder to maintain good speed. At one point I topped a little rise and started coasting down the other side. I picked up some speed and went through an area with thick vegetation on both sides of the trail, right into a sharp left turn combined with a sharp descent. I squeezed my brakes, but it was too late. All I could do was lean way over into the turn and grit my teeth. Like my first encounter with a snake while riding, I yelled “shiiiiiiiiiiiiit,” as I went through the turn, certain that I would careen off the trail and crash into a tree. But somehow I made it. The trail straightened and the descent stopped, so I was able to get my speed under control. Needless to say, my bike was in the shop the next day.

The great views on the trails can be ruined by loud
clacking noises from your pedals and loose brakes.

There’s a simple to way to remember the basics of bike maintenance: ABC, which stands for air, brakes and chain. Air in the tires, check the brakes and take care of the chain.  There’s a little more to it than that, but it’s a good place to start. There are reputable bike shops around that can help you maintain your bike. I take mine to the Dicks in Knightdale. I bought the bike there and – in a departure from my usual practice – bought the extended service contract that included several “tune-ups.”  That contract came in handy the first time I blew a tire. It cost about $15 to get a new one put on the bike. I took it for it’s first tune-up about 15 months after buying it. I had not realized how much the pedals, brakes and other parts get worn from riding until I rode my bike after that first tune-up. If you buy a bike from Dick’s, I strongly recommend using their service department and getting the regular tune-ups.

There’s something else I recommend when it comes to maintenance and this is something I need to do myself. I need to set a schedule for maintenance and stick to it. I tend to push the bike to get in a few extra rides before taking it to the shop. I noticed this spring that my speed seemed to have dropped. I normally average 15-16 miles per hour but on most rides recently I was down to 13-14. I thought I had lost some strength in my legs over the winter. The trip to the beach proved me wrong. I was back up in the 15-16 mph range on the beach cruiser bike. When I got home and started riding my bike again, I noticed a few things. The pedals had loosened and would shift slightly side to side as I pedaled. The back tire was shifting slightly too. Finally, there were some metallic clicks coming from the pedals. I cheated (again!) and took a few more rides before those metallic clicks began getting louder. Finally I took it to the shop and described what was happening. The guy said he recognized what was probably going on and could fix it. He also said that the clicks could lead to the pedals literally breaking and falling off. That is definitely not something you want to happen when you’re 15-20 miles from home. So, I’ve developed a mid-year resolution: I’m going to mark my calendar for preventative maintenance checks.

The next chapter in the maintenance saga is for me to learn how to do more of my own maintenance. I have a tool I can use to tighten many of the parts and adjust the brakes. I also received a tire changing kit as a gift. I need to master that as well. It’s not uncommon to see someone changing a tire along the trail. It doesn’t seem to take them long and they complete the repairs with confidence and ease. For me that’s both a future goal and blog post.