Create a Road Bike Checklist

Video Transcript

"Because we're not usually out hitting jumps and riding through stream crossings and riding over logs and rocks on our road bikes it's easy to forget that even under general use they need regular maintenance. I'm kind of afraid to say that my personal road bike right here doesn't see the sort of maintenance that it regularly should. I'm always sure to make sure that the chain is lubricated. It may look rusty, but that is because of the chain lube that I use sort of leaves a brown tint, but the things that we should do before every ride is: check our tire pressure, which is very important on road tires. With road tires you want to go with the pressure that the manufacturer recommends on the sidewall as the maximum, it's usually the right thing, so it's usually around 100 psi or so. Pumping your tires up harder than that is not going to make you roll faster, it's probably going to actually reduce the amount of control that you have of your bike and it's not going to be as comfortable of a ride. To low tire pressure you are really risking getting pinch flats where your tire is compressed against the rim. Then you get a flat. You probably want to lubricate your chain once or twice a week, depending on what the weather conditions are. I'd say every, roughly 2000 miles or so you want to just replace your chain. Go ahead and get a new one. They sell gages that gage how warn the chain is, but what you want to do is preemptively replace the chain before it is warn out so that you don't wear out your cogs and your chain rings. A chain is anywhere between $25 and $45 where as a cassette is nearly $100 and new chain rings can end up being $60 or $70. So it's a good way of saving yourself some money."