Biking 101: Bike maintenance requires a few tools and a desire to learn
Kalen Ponche
Issue date: 9/14/06 Section: TruLife
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Estes keeps wheels, frames, inner tubes and other bike parts in his apartment where he builds older bikes he gives away. A self-taught bike expert, Estes said it was easy to learn basic bike repair and maintenance.
"They're fairly simple machines," Estes said. "So once you have somebody show you it or fool around with it, you can figure it out on your own."
Estes began bike building in high school when he started fixing up old frames from his garage.
"You see one bike in the trash, and the next thing you know, you have a lot of bikes in your house," Estes said.
Estes said a few basic tools such as a plastic tire lever and some Allen wrenches are enough to fix simple problems.
"It's fairly easy [to make repairs] if you're into it," he said.
Lesson 1: Basic Maintenance
Although Kirksville does not have any bike shops, students do not have to travel all the way to Columbia to get their bikes repaired.
Todd Guess, service manager at Cyclextreme Bicycle Warehouse in Columbia, Mo., said bicyclists could easily learn to do work on their own bikes. He said that although bikes that are ridden frequently should get a tune-up once a year, most basic bike maintenance is easy to do.
"One of the most important things you can do is keep your tires inflated, lubricate your bike and chain often and if you do your own work, change your cables often," Guess said.
Keeping tires pumped to the correct pressure can make riding easier, he said.
"Tires are porous, so they're going to lose air constantly," he said. "If you're riding a lot, it makes sense to pump them up before every ride, but you could probably get away with once a week."
Tires that are underinflated make the rim of the wheel more vulnerable, Guess said.
"Say for instance you hit a pot hole you didn't expect," he said. "If you have lots of air in the tire it will act as a buffer, if not, it will compress to the rim, and you'll get a pinch flat. It also increases the likelihood you'll knock your wheel out of alignment."
In general, mountain bike tires should be inflated to 60 psi, while comfort and hybrid bike tires should get 80 psi. Road bike tires typically are inflated to 100 psi or higher, Guess said. The correct air pressure should be printed on the tire.