Basic Road Bike Maintenance

• This is written with 2020s road bikes in mind. Gravel, cyclocross, and mountain bikes will increasingly diverge in requirements and schedule.
• This is a very thorough and prescriptive list. Very few cyclists are actually this diligent (I’m certainly not), but most end up covering the bases one way or another (or else they break down frequently).
• It assumes you’re riding several days a week, totaling 80-200 miles. Adjust accordingly.
• Most of the maintenance items are scheduled based on miles or hours ridden, but some (notably checking your sealant) are solely based on elapsed time.
• It’s best to do your maintenance in smaller batches such that you’re laying eyes and hands on the bike regularly, rather than saving it all up for one long session.

Every Ride

• Check & top up tire pressure
• Check AXS or DI2 battery level
• Eyeball the bike for obvious issues

Three or Four times a month

• Clean & lube chain, check length with gauge
• Check tires & wheels on the bike
  • Spin tires and look for worn spots, holes, bulges, and wheel un-trueness
  • Check tire wear indicators
• Visually inspect brake pad thickness
  • Look at thickness relative to retractor springs
  • A flashlight really helps with this
• Quick cleanup job on frame & rims
  • Doubles as a once-over to look for issues
• Check headset play
• Clean cleats & pedals, check for loose bolts & cleat wear, lube if appropriate

Once a month

• Check & refill sealant level in tires
  • Remove wheels, let sit 5m, hold up to your ear and shake, listening for appropriate sloshing
• Check brake disc thickness
• Clean brake calipers, exercise pistons (like this)
  • If they won’t fully retract it’s probably time to bleed the brakes
• Check hub & bottom bracket bearing feel
• Do a more thorough cleaning job
  • Maybe even with soap & water
  • Clean crud out of the derailleur pivots
  • De-gunk bottom bracket and headset crevices

Once or twice a year

• Bleed brakes
  • On mineral oil systems this is less necessary, and can be a partial bleed.
  • For DOT5 brakes you generally need to do a full bleed at least once a year.
• Clean & re-lube frame pump internals
• Replace handlebar tape if needed
• Check bolt torque everywhere on the bike
• Check coin-cell batteries
  • AXS shifters, Power meter, speed / cadence sensor, HRM, etc.
• Pull everything out of the saddle bag and make sure it’s still usable
  • Your multi-tool may have worn a hole in your emergency tube
  • Or maybe you gave that last patch to a friend and never replaced it
• Service hubs & bottom bracket, maybe headset as well
  • This is somewhat aspirational. I suspect most folks don’t actually do this on the regular.

Ideally you’d keep a log of every maintenance along with mileage on the various parts.

What Tools Do You Need?

IMNSHO you want two sets of tools:

• The small, lightweight, minimal tools you take on rides.
• The ergonomic, full-size, actually-usable-for-real-work tools you keep at home.

I strongly suggest you aim for that from the get-go, instead of trying to pretend that you can save money/space by having only one set. I also believe that nobody should buy cheap tools for anything they intend to do more than twice in their life.

On the Bike

• Tire irons
• Small but high quality multi-tool, like the Specialized SWAT or the Topeak Mini 9
• A spare tube and a patch kit
• A mini pump. The Lezyne Road Drive is great because the hose lets you pump vigorously w/o ripping the valve stem out of the wheel.
• Bonus points if you have a pocket tool with pliers, like the Gerber Dime

At Home

• Full size floor pump
• Nice set of metric allen wrenches (Bondhus are good, or anything with the ball-head at the end), and at least a T25 Torx wrench (but just get a set)
• A fixed 5nm torque wrench thing (like this) with a few bike-related bits
• Screwdriver, pliers, smallish crescent wrench, needle nose pliers, metal file, hammer, vise grips, etc.
• Another set of tire irons
• Rags and chain lube
• Other bike-specific tools can be purchased as you come to need them.