Get your Bike Ready to Ride!

Learn the basics of a spring bike tune up with Katie Blackburn, President of Free Ride. Katie covers everything from brakes to tires and shifting and answers frequently asked maintenance questions.

Follow along at home with Katie’s Spring Cycle Tune Up Guide!

Start with a nice clean:

• Bike frame: warm water & Simple Green or dish soap
• Drive train (chain, chainrings, derailleurs): cleaning lubricant
• Disc brake rotors: small drop rubbing alcohol on a microfiber cloth

Check for areas that may need some attention:

• Flat tires / Low air pressure in tires
• Worn brake pads / Worn disc brake rotors
• Loose cables
• “Loose” chains
• Uneven spoke tension
• Areas of rust, damage
• Anything else that seems off!

Wheels:

• Get some air in those tires
• Check your spoke tension and true your wheels

Brakes:

• Double-check that your pads are even & have life left
• Tighten cables at the brake or using barrel adjuster

Drivetrain:

• Chain “stretch” isn’t what you may think – usually it means wear in the small chain pins. If there is significant wear, replace your chain
• Double-check there isn’t significant wear on front chainring and rear cogs

Shifting:

• Over the winter the cables may have breathed slightly – make sure you can shift through all the gears with ease (and without rubbing)
• More barrel adjusting!

This workshop was presented in partnership with Venture Outdoors, a local nonprofit that works to inspire, educate, and equip. Venture outdoors aims to make outdoor experiences more accessible and offers a wide range of outings for all ages and skill levels, including hiking, biking, kayaking, geocaching, camping, fishing, and more!

BikePGH’s Women and Non-Binary Program is inclusive of trans and cis women, intersex people, non-binary, genderqueer, agender, and gender variant folks, as well as those whose gender identity falls outside of the dominant conceptions of gender. The program encourages conversation and spaces to come together over biking, advocacy, and related topics while increasing representation of people who have historically marginalized gender identities.

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