It can happen that you have a break from riding. Maybe the weather conditions aren’t right, or you’re recovering from a sprain. But even if you don’t have a break it’s still important to check your bike occasionally and tune it up, so that nothing important breaks or fails on you when you’re speeding down the road.
A good firts thing to check is the chain. Over time, the chain links get worn, the effective length increases, and as this happens, the chain doesn’t line up to the cog and teeth of the chain ring. If you haven’t got a newchain in a year or more, it’s probably time to do it. Replace it before it stretches too much, you’ll save yourself the cost of replacing high priced cogs and chain rings.
You should check the bearing surfaces, that include the bottom bracket, headset and hubs. They should each turn freely without a problem and with no play in the system. Before checking the bottom bracket, make sure each cranking arm is snugged tight. Then hold onto the crank arm (not the pedal) and wobble it back and forth. Any clicking noise, or if the crank arm binds, indicates that the bottom bracket should be adjusted .
Wheel hubs should be done the same way by taking the wheels off the bike, spinning the hub axles and feeling for any free play or binding. If you get this, then you need to make an adjustment.
To check the headset ( where the forks turn ) start by putting the newly adjusted wheels back on the bike. Then pull and push the handle bars back and forth, and there shouldn’t be any play. when you lift the front of the bike off the ground, the fork needs to turn really smoothly, and if not the headset needs to be replaced or fixed.
Brake cables and plastic housings should be checked at the same time. You don’t want any cracks in the housing or rust cables and if that’s the case you need fix it, or your shifting and braking will be sluggish.
Brake pads. Most pads have ridges or indicator marks that show you when they need to be replaced. Brake pads that are worn out are a danger, because you can’t stop properly !
Once you’ve got the tune ups out of the way, it’s time for a bike workout, so have some fun!