I am new in bike riding and even more new to bicycle mechanic....

What should I check before a ride and after?

I guess, check air pressure would be good, but what else?

that you have your water bottle and sunglasses. don't forget your cell phones. i have forgotten one of these before and pissed that i had to turnback to get it

Common Things

Check to see if your tires are tight on the dropout make sure your bars arent gonna move while screaming down a hill and check your brake pads

All QRs. Wheels, Brakes and seatpost if applicable
Everything removable. Bottles, Pump, Saddlebag, Lights, Computer

I learned this the hard way. Two months ago I had to take my van in for a brake job. The shop was 7 miles from my house so I tossed my Trek 7200 in the back so I could ride it home.

Everything was OK for about two miles and then the drive side pedal felt funny, like I couldn't get a good foot position on it. I figured it was because I was wearing a new pair of shoes and the soles just felt different on the pedal. Another mile later I knew that something was wrong as the whole pedal felt funny by then.

Pulled over and found out the pedal was really loose and wobbly and had almost completely stripped out the crank arm. It was only catching about 1 to 1 1/2 of the pedal threads on the end of the pedal. I carry a tire lever set, tube, small multi tool kit, and a cartridge inflater, but no pedal wrench. I used the tire levers to grip the pedal flats and snug it up a bit.

Continued my ride home with the pedal getting worse with every stroke and not wanting to ride with one pedal or walk a broken bike for 4 miles. Got pretty scary for about a 1/4 mile where I had to ride out in traffic on the way home but I made it.

The pedal fell out when I coasted into my driveway. The driveside crank arm (Shimano M-191) was junk, had to replace it and get new pedals to the tune of about 40 bucks.

Makes me mad at myself as I should have checked the pedals during the pre-ride check. Trust me, I won't make that mistake again and now have a small pedal wrench in my kit too, just in case.

If that pedal would have popped out when I was up off the saddle gaining speed to keep up with traffic ..... well lets just say, it wouldn't be a very good thing

G-B, Items I think you should have ready are:
seat bag
tire tools
new tube
patch kit
mini pump
water bottles
mini multi tool

If you're transporting to a ride:
air pressure the night before and again the morning of the ride
take your floor pump if you're in a group, someone's gonna need air
Lube the chain the night before, important if transporting inside of a vehicle

At the start of the ride:
Seat bag and mini pump on the bike
Quick releases are tightened
Quick brake opening lever closed (what's the proper name for that lever???)

After the ride:
Check for loose spokes
If caught in the rain wash and relube

I'm sure there are items left out that are useful, but I tried to only list what I feel are essential.

Brad

Yesrurday I checked my tyres at a petrol station, 35lb. Perhaps the ideal follow-up to this post is what do you carry on your bike for punctures n breakages. Bikes used to have clips soldered onto the frame for pumps, but not anymore. What tools do you carry?

S

thanks, that makes sense.

I carry extra tubes, tire lever, mini pump, and one hex. I have ordered multi tool, but it did not come yet.
I also have two bottles

Before ride (In addition to what others listed) - Make sure I have some form of ID, medical info/insurance card, cash, credit card.