Simple Bicycle Maintenance

Things you can do in a few minutes to keep you bike in tip-top condition.

Clean your chain

Complicated methods abound: Remove the chain and soak it overnight; disassemble and clean each roller with a cotton swab; and something else involving pipe cleaners and a toxic solvent.

This lazy-chain-cleaner's process removes gunk and you won't need safety goggles. Buy a chain cleaner for a few hundred Baht and fill it with a degrease solution, some degrease solutions you can find in the clean oven selection at the local supermarket work just fine. Attach the chain cleaning device to your chain, turn the crank about 15 to 20 revolutions, and let the brushes scrub away grime. Remove the chain cleaner and wipe it dry with kitchen paper. Make sure that you remove all the degrease solution... No chain cleaner? A toothbrush and some oven cleaning solution or foam spray can do wonders for your chain, focusing on small sections at a time, and wipe clean with a dry rag or kitchen paper. Apply chain lubrication when you're done. (Some degrease solutions may have effects on rubber and plastics, be aware of this.)

Adjust your brakes

If your brake lever reaches the handlebar before it stops your bike, either your brake pads are worn out or your cables are stretched. Worn out pads should be replaced – but that's another story, and you want to ride now, so do this to get by.

Turn the barrel adjuster on the brake caliper clockwise one click at a time, testing your brakes after each adjustment. If you reach the last click and still haven't solved the problem, turn it clockwise until it stops, loosen the pinch bolt and pull a small amount of cable through. Tighten the pinch bolt and repeat the process until you get the right amount of tension.

Smooth out shifting

What good is a clean chain if it jumps around and skips gears? Loose cable tension is the likely culprit. With your bike in a repair stand, shift to the smallest cog. Turn the barrel adjuster on the rear derailleur one-half turn clockwise. Then, as you rotate your pedals, shift once. If the chain doesn't jump to the next cog, make another half-turn. If the chain starts to jump two cogs for every one shift, you went too far. Back it down a half-turn. Don't turn the barrel adjuster more than halfway at a time. You may end up with too much tension, which will make your shifting just a bad or worse than when you started.