Cleaning & Servicing Your Mountain Bike | How to Check, Lubricate & Wash Your Bicycle

Here is some advice to help you keep your mountain bike in peak condition – it is a good idea to try to follow these steps after every ride. This article covers the whole bike from saddle to brakes, to help you methodically follow through the checks. The whole process should take about 35 – 40 minutes, once you are familiar with it.

1. Remove accessories on the top of the handlebar. This includes the lights, bell, etc. If your bike has V brakes, release the brake [cables]. [Starting with the front brake], push the two brake calipers into the rim of the wheel to release the tension from the cable. Then lift the brake cable up out of the retaining clip and repeat with the rear brake cable.
2. Turn the bike upside-down. To protect your grips and saddle, lay out an old towel or something similar on the ground (or fork out the hundred bucks or so for a repair stand). Standing beside your bike, lean over it and grip the frame with your hands – one hand on the down tube at the front and the other hand on the seat post at the rear of the frame. Then lift up the bike and turn it over.
3. Remove the wheels. Open the quick release lever on the front wheel axle and lift the wheel out. Remove the rear wheel – open the quick release and, as you lift up the wheel, ease the rear cassette housing out of the dérailleur mechanism (the part with the two cogs).
4. Clean the drive system. Using the brush and some soapy water, start by cleaning the rear derailleur, working the brush into all the moving parts.
5. Wash the underside. Start by washing the front forks with a rag and soapy water, wiping them dry with a cloth as you go. In the same way, clean the center and rear of the frame.
6. Wash and remount the wheels. Take a wet rag and start by cleaning the rims of the front wheel. Give the spokes a wash-down and clean the axle. If you have a disk brake system, use a degreaser, such as muck off or white lightning to clean the disc’s.
7. Check the wheels. Spin each wheel, making sure it turns freely and that you can see that it’s straight (true). As the wheel rotates, hold your fingers against the rims, to feel if there are any dents or knocks on either side.
8. Check the drive system. Check both pedals by spinning them, making sure that they turn freely and that there is no noise or grinding from worn bearings. If there is, you’ll need to replace the bottom bracket.
9. Wash the topside of bike. Stand by your bike and grab the frame with both hands as you did before to turn your bike back up the right way. Then lean the bike against a wall.  Get to scrubbing !
10. Check the brakes. Test your brakes by standing in front of your bike, holding the handlebars. Apply the front brake and pull the bike towards you. The front wheel should not move at all and if you continue to pull, the rear wheel should lift up off the ground; otherwise, the brake will need adjusting.
11. Check the headset. Stand beside your bike, and holding the headset with your left hand, apply the front brake with your right hand and rock the bike back and forth. Make sure you cannot feel any slack or hear any knocking in the headset. If you can, your headset will need adjusting.
12. Lubricate the drive system. Place some rags over the rear wheel rims underneath the derailleur, to catch any oil drips.
13. Check the lights. Now reattach the lights and any other accessories you took off. Turn the front light on, making sure the light is bright, then do the same check with the back light.
14. Preventive Maintenance. Last but not least attach a bike tool kit on your bike for every time you ride – it could save you a whole lot of time and frustration. Items should include: A bike specific multi-tool, an extra tube (store in an old sock to use the sock to work on your bike to keep your hands clean), tire levers, and a CO2 inflater if you don’t have a pump.

Basic Bike Maintenance

Mountain bike maintenance and repairs can be daunting for some but easy for others. Maintaining your own bike is something that everyone can do. If you start with the basic bike maintenance and servicing tasks, before you know it you will have all the bike tools to do a full maintenance service on your own bike. Maintaining a mountain bike in good running order is cost effective and the best way to get long life out of your components and to keep you riding. To service your mountain bike do regular maintenance like a bike wash, wiping it down and checking for damage, adjusting the gears, setting the brakes and changing worn components. If you do regular bike services there will be less need to do costly bike repairs. However even doing DIY bike repairs can save you trips to the bike shop and keep you on your bike instead of it lying around a bike repair shop somewhere waiting for a bike mechanic to look at it. Bike repairs like changing brake pads, changing a chain or removing cranks are also fairly easy to do with a bit of know how and the right tools. Fixing your own bike can be a very rewarding and a useful skill especially if you live far away from a bike workshop or if you compete in long distance mountain bike events where bike maintenance and repair know how is important.
Mountain bike maintenance is something that is easy to learn if you know how. For hands on experience speak to your LBS – local mountain bike shop and ask them if you can spend a couple of hours in their bike workshop. Some of them also offer mountain bike maintenance courses. You should also checkout one of the fine bike repair books available on this website.

Mountain Bike Regular Maintenance Advice | Tips to Keep Your Bike Working

Maintaining your bike in good working order is as easy as 1-2-3. Follow these easy steps to keep you bike well maintained and to avoid breakdowns.

1. Bike wipe & check – after a ride – about every 20 miles

Front Shock – Wipe stanchions and ensure dust seals are clean and oil free.
Rear Shock – Wipe and ensure dust seal is clean.
Run chain through dry clean cloth. Wipe old lube off chainrings. Re-lube chain.
A quick check to see that everything is working, best to be done at the end of the day so that any repairs, adjustments can be done before the next day.

• Check wheels (skewers) are tight
• Check brakes work and are not loose (levers and callipers)
• Check handlebar is tight and not loose
• Check gears are working and changing properly
• Check and adjust tire pressure

2. Bike wash – when your bike looks dirty, before a race or after a muddy ride

Washing a mountain bike can be quick and easy if you have a plan and the right tools. In 5-10 min you can give your bike a wash that will make it look like new. The full bike wash will take a bit longer and is only necessary after a couple of weeks or when you feel like bonding with your bike.

3. Bike Tools – Get the right tools to do basic DIY maintenance

Maintaining your own bike is not nearly as complicated as it seems. A good way to learn is to start slowly, gain confidence and build up a set of as you progress. If your bike needs a service, rather spend the money buying a couple of and then do it yourself.

4. Bike Gears Setup and Adjusting

Adjusting and setting your mountain bike gears is really quite simple. There are a few basic rules that need to be followed in order to understand what should be setup and what should be adjusted. The difference is that the setup items are done only once and never again unless the part is removed or replaced.

Chain Service

Roughly every 500 miles, or when chain is worn.
Replace Chain.
Remove and grease BB and Crank. Check BB bearings for wear.
Remove rear shock and grease all bushings when replacing. Check swing arm as above.
Check Cassette – replace if necessary (normally only every 3000 miles)
Check Chainrings – replace if necessary (normally every 3rd chain and then only middle chain ring)
Remove fork. Remove headset bearings, clean and re-grease. Re-assemble.
Check hubs, spokes and rims for wear and damage.

Fork and Shock Maintenance.

Every 80 hours of use.
Remove dust seals from fork. Check that oil is still clean and that foam rings are clean and lubed.
Clean inside of dust seals using old sticker backing.
Rear Shock – Remove from bike.
Deflate all air.
Remove air can.
Check all recommended areas, as per manual.
Re-grease according to manual recommendations.
Refit.

Fork and Shock Service

Every 160 hours. According to your manual.