Like a car’s full service and interim service (maintenance), a bicycle has a full service and an interim service (maintenance). In the process of full service, you need to remove all parts of the bike from the bike frame and carefully clean and lubricate the bike. The disassembling of bicycles requires a lot of professional tools, and the whole maintenance process also consumes a lot of energy and time. So for the average enthusiast, SUMLON recommends that you go to a professional bike shop to do a full service. The frequency of full service is about once a year. The interim service is much simpler than the full service, mainly including bike washing, tire pressure inspection and lubricating for the transmission mechanism. The interim service does not require you to disassemble any parts or prepare any special tools. If you don’t know how to complete a bike maintenance, SUMLON will show you how to complete an interim service or even a full service.
How to implement an interim service at home?
SUMLON recommends that all cyclists complete the interim service independently at home. You should complete an interval service for your bike every 100 km or so. It is also advisable to do an interim service immediately after a rainy day or on a dirt road. Next, SUMLON teaches you how to use the tools you can find to perform an interim service on your bike at home.
In bike maintenance, you need to ensure that the parts with bearings can be kept dry after cleaning. If you cannot guarantee that, do not clean the front hub, real hub, headset and bottom bracket at home. To clean the front hub and real hub, two wheels need to be disassembled from the frame. To clean the headset, you need to remove step and to clean the bottom bracket, you need to remove crankset. These are all things that need to be done in a full maintenance.
In the interim service process, you only need to do three things: clean the entire bike, check the tire pressure, and clean the chain and flywheel and add lubricating oil without removing the wheel and transmission system.
clean the entire bike
When washing the whole bicycle, the high pressure water gun may spray water into the key parts of the bicycle, causing damage or water ingress. It is best to use a medium pressure water stream or manually clean. If your bike has electronic components, such as batteries or controls on your e-bike, be sure to turn them off before washing to avoid damage. If the bicycle is very dirty, use some mild detergent to help clean, but make sure to wash thoroughly after cleaning, so as not to damage the surface or parts by residues. Avoid direct water spraying of bearings and lubrication components as much as possible to avoid flushing of lubricating oil and damage to parts. Carefully check all parts of the bike after washing to ensure that no water droplets remain. Especially around the brake and transmission components, make sure they are dry.
check the tire pressure
you need to use a pump with a tire pressure gauge. If you do not know the correct tire pressure, please see: Optimize tire pressure of your road bike
clean the chain and flywheel
In one intermediate maintenance, the most difficult operation is to clean and add lubricating oil to the transmission system. You can simply interpret it as chain and flywheel cleaning. In this process you will need a brush, special cleaning agent for chains, dry towels and proper chain lubricant. Follow SUMLON home page. We will soon upload a tutorial on how to select chain lubricants.
I’m sure you can easily find videos on YouTube that show you how to clean chains and flywheels. In general, you need to spray or smear the cleaning agent on the chain and flywheel, and ensure that the cleaning agent covers all parts of the chain and flywheel. Next, you need to use an old toothbrush or special chain cleaner to gently scrub each link of the chain and flywheel, especially the dirty part of the chain. Be careful not to apply too much force to avoid damaging the chain. Then, wash the chain and flywheel with clean water to clean the cleaner and impurities. Wait 10-15 minutes after the entire process. Apply special lubricant for bicycles to clean and dry chains after ensuring that chains and flywheels are dry. Make sure that the entire chain is lubricated with oil, but avoid using excessive lubricating oil to avoid absorbing too much dust and impurities. If necessary, you can wipe the chain surface with a clean cloth to remove excess lubricating oil.
How to complete a bike full maintenance at home?
SUMLON does not recommend a full maintenance cycle at home. Because this process requires almost all parts of the bike to be disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled. This requires specialist knowledge and tool sets. And because this process involves cleaning and replacing bike parts with bearings, bike shops have high-pressure air jets to ensure that no water is left in these parts and in the frame gaps. You can’t guarantee this at home. SUMLON still recommends that you send your bike to the nearby bike shop on an annual basis and have the shop technician help you with this process.
If you decide to complete a full maintenance at home. We will give you an overview of this process and simple considerations.
The first step is to disassemble the complete vehicle completely. Please use the correct screwdriver here to prevent the screw from being damaged.
The second step is to clean all bicycle parts, including frame, chain, flywheel, brake and transmission, etc. Take care to avoid direct spray of water into critical components such as bearings. Clean tiny parts such as gear and chain links with clean cloth or brush.
Step 3: You need to check all parts of the bicycle, including tires, brakes, transmission, chains, screws, etc., to ensure that they are in good condition and are not loose or worn.
Step 4: We recommend that you apply special lubricant for bicycles on clean and dry chains to ensure that the lubricant seeps into every link of the chain.
Step 5: Check the brake pad, chain, inner and outer tires, etc. If any wear or damage is found, replace it in time. Finally, reinstall all bicycle parts and adjust the brake system and gear system to ensure they work properly.
This may seem a simple process, but it contains too much operational detail. See another topic published by SUMLON. It tells you what details you should pay attention to in a full maintenance.
Bicycles maintenance：13 noticeable problems (I)
Bicycles maintenance：13 noticeable problems (II)
By the way, SUMLON has been manufacturing bicycle parts for over 15 years. Contact us if you are looking for a bike parts factory or a one-stop wholesaler. Peace
