Periodic Maintenance Task for Bike Commuters

Question

What are the periodic maintenance tasks (weekly, monthly, annual, every X miles) that anyone who relies on a bike for transportation (typically in urban/semi-urban environments) should be performing? Ideally stated in terms of miles travelled (where applicable).

Answer 1

My bike service guys wrote a blog article along these lines. You may find it useful: http://www.southcoastbikes.co.uk/articles.asp?article=Care

Edit I agree with http://meta.bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/28/avoiding-just-buy-a-new-one-or-heres-a-link-answers - so in this sprirt...

The South Coast Bikes article recommends four principals for basic bike care. These are

• Keep your tyres pumped
• If it lives outside, use it. An unused bike exposed to the elements will fairly quickly rust & seize up
• Lubricate - little & often, less is more
• Check your cables and bring back tension where needed

Answer 2

Mostly it depends on where and how far you commute, and road conditions (sandy, snow, salt etc etc).

At a minimum what I do is:

Daily: check tire air pressure.

Weekly: Check brake pad wear, tire wear, clean/wipe down entire bike

Monthly: Check chain tension, chainring/cogs for wear, lube chain, adjust brakes, oil all pivot points on derailleurs, brakes etc.

Annually: complete tear down, inspection and reassembly with synthetic grease on all bearings.

Answer 3

Being a big guy (~400lbs) I do a lot of damamge to my bikes, so I check things more often, and most of the time there isn't a problem, just better to double check. So as a result, here is my paranoid check schedule:

When needed:

• Brake fine adjust (at the lever to maintain feel).
• Chain lube.
• Chain cleaning (if it has been wet out, this can be more often than below).
• Clean disc brakes with rubbing alcohol.

Daily:

• Tire pressure by feel (squeeeeze, it's like a hug for your tires!).
• Brake feel (give it a good hard stab on my way out of the driveway).

Every 3 rides:

• Accurate tire pressure.

Weekly:

• Headset adjustment.
  • It's a quick check, takes all of 30 seconds if it isn't out of adjustment.
• Visually check the brakes for any damage or maladjustment.

Monthly:

• Bottom bracket adjustment.
• Chain clean.
• Wheel bearing check.
• Accessory tightness (is that rear rack still attached?).
• Lube rear cog bearings with chain lube.

Every 3 months:

• Chain ring bolts.
• Pedal bearings and make sure they're tight.