Originally Posted by
slammer66
This is what I get for being extraordinarily lucky. I've ridden thousands of miles and before the last two weeks had 1 tire pop due to a nail in a bike lane no less and I was half a mile from the bike shop I bought it at so I walked down there and had them fix it.
I have to say that if you have ridden thousands of miles without incident you have been on borrowed time for awhile. Learning how to maintain your bike isn't difficult even if you have to lean on professional help from time to time. first thing to learn is to keep your bike reasonably clean. That doesn't mean that a speck of dust on it requires you to clean every nook and cranny that you can find, but you would be surprised how many problems you can find just cleaning your bike. A loose spoke? you would find it while wiping dirt off the spokes. A hub that needs attention? You would find that if you remove your wheels from the bike and while cleaning the greasy bits around the hub axle. A worn tire? you would see that while cleaning your wheels. Learning to maintain your bike can allow you to ride with more confidence knowing that the major points of failure have been inspected