Show Your Bike Some Love
Five Ways to Improve your Two-Wheeled Relationship
By Tammie Painter
Your bike does so many wonderful things for you — like keeping you in shape and getting you around — but what have you done for your bike lately?
Your relationship with your bike doesn’t have to be high maintenance (don’t you wish you could say that about the other relationships in your life?), but if you put a little work into it, it can only improve.
The following five things will let your bike know you love it.
Pump those tires
Your tires are designed to be ridden at a certain psi (pounds per square inch). This gives you a faster and smoother ride, makes the tires last longer, and helps prevent flats. Simply look on the tire’s wall for the pressure your tire wants and deserves. For those of you truly in love, you will do this before every ride.
Clean those rims
Since you’ve made the step to get down on one knee to check for the correct psi, why not get out a rag and wipe down your rims? Road gunk and dirt build-up can make stopping difficult. They also make your wheels look ugly. Take a damp rag and wipe down the rims until they get as clean as you can get them (this is best done in a stand or with the bike flipped over so the wheels rotate freely).
Next, take a cotton ball and wet it with rubbing alcohol. Take the cotton ball and swipe it around the rims a few times and you should get the majority of the grime off. While you’re at it, be sure to wipe down those spokes to show your bike how much you care.
Degunk that frame
All that crud you just got off your wheels? Well, even with fenders, you’ve probably got a good coat of grime on your frame. Take a damp rag to the whole frame starting at the top and working down (cleanest to dirtiest). Pay special attention to the inside of the fork and stays and the underside of the downtube where the wheels splash up the most road gunk.
For really stubborn grime, you can use a little degreaser or a weak soap solution. To make your bike truly shine, go over it with a rag spritzed with a little furniture polish and give the frame a little buff. While you’re at it, check for chips, cracks, and rust.
Lube that chain
Smoother shifting, longer lasting components, and a nice looking bike can all be yours. Simply clean the chain. There are many different ways to do this, but the best I’ve found for a really gunked chain is WD-40. Do NOT use this as a lube, ever, or you will attract every piece of dirt and grime on the road.
First get your bike (preferably on a stand so you can rotate the pedals easily) over some newspaper and spray down the chain liberally with WD-40. Let it drip out black goo for a couple hours then go over the chain with a rag in one hand while backpedaling with your other hand to clean off the majority of the grime. Shift over to the largest cog on your cassette and take a damp rag and wipe in between each cog. This sounds more painful than a saddlesore but it really doesn’t take too long.
Next, drizzle the chain with lube, making sure to get each link. Shift your chain onto each cog and then wipe down the cas-sette again to get the excess lube off. It’s best to let the lube sit on the chain overnight or at least an hour. This lets the lube “soak” into all the moving parts and also drives out more of that black goo. Again, run the chain over a rag while backpedaling to get as much of the lube off as possible.
Pay It Some Attention
Significant others like nothing better than your undivided attention and your bike is no different. Go over those little things that have been bugging you about your bike. Seat too high, shifting sluggish, brakes squishy or noisy? All of these are pretty quick fixes that can be done at home with a little practice. So show your bike some love and take care of these issues that have been keeping your relationship from being all it can be.
Nothing wrong? Then buy it a new bottle cage or some bar tape and go show it off.
Tammie Painter is a bicycle enthusiast living in Portland.
