As a personal rule of thumb, Nancy Grant takes her bicycle to her local bike shop once a year for a tune-up.

“With a tune-up, you’re starting from a good spot and you know that everything is checked on the bike,” Grant said. “Without it, if things aren’t working right and something breaks mid-ride, it can be inconvenient, as well as potentially dangerous.”

Additional Photos

Jerry Morin, owner of Jerry’s Bike Barn in Berwick, uses a truing stand to check whether a wheel is straight. Photos by Tim Greenway/Staff Photographer

Morin sets the rear brakes to make sure the brake pads will meet the rim at the same time as he does spring maintenance on a touring bike at his shop last week.

Morin applies lubrication to a chain as he gives a bicycle a tune-up. A clean chain lasts longer and shifts smoother.

Morin adjusts the tension screw for the correct spacing between the brake pad and the rim.

But each time she goes out for an early season ride, Grant keeps in mind a few bicycle maintenance do-it-herself tips.

A recreational cyclist who lives in Portland, Grant cleans the components of her bike — including the brakes, the saddle, the handlebars and the pedals — with a damp cloth to rid it of grit, sand and salt that may have accrued.

She properly lubricates the bike chain and she fills each tire tube with air and checks the air pressure.

“Those,” Grant said, ” are the simplest things that anyone who cares about their bike does.”

Grant isn’t just a recreational cyclist, she’s also the executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine. But Grant is among many who prepare for another season of cycling across Maine.

There’s no set season, per se; some people commute to work by bike year-round, while others brave the elements and ride during the winter.

Yet at the start of spring, many cyclists tend to dust off their bikes after a long winter’s repose in storage, or take the bike off the stationary trainer parked in front of the television.

The easiest — though costlier — thing to do is to go to your local bike shop and have the mechanics take care of any issues before the first ride of the spring.

But if you’re set on doing it yourself, Fred Robie at Gorham Bike and Ski in Saco recommends following your ABCs — air, brakes, and chain and cranks — in preparation for not just the first ride, but each ride you take.

“Check the air in the tires, and then check the brake pads,” Robie said. “Press on the brake levers one at a time, and if (the lever hits the handlebars), that means you need to adjust or service the brakes.

“With the chain and crank, backpedal the bike with your hands. If there aren’t loud noises, that’s a good thing. If the shifting is not happy, go to the shop and have a tune-up.”

A bike tune-up can start at $50 at various bike shops across the state, before the potential cost of replacing parts (which can increase the cost of maintenance anywhere from $25 to $100).

But maintaining a bicycle isn’t just a once-a-year practice.

“If you don’t maintain your bike properly, it’s not going to work right,” said Jerry Morin, owner of Jerry’s Bike Barn in Berwick. “You’re going to get frustrated and you’re not going to ride. It defeats the purpose.

“Maintaining it may mean you might have to put an extra 15 to 20 minutes into it, but whether it’s for your livelihood or for your own safety, bikes should be maintained.”

Morin explained that maintenance is a continual process, right down to cleaning and lubricating your bicycle, including hard-to-reach areas within the drive train: the chain, the chain-rings, the cassette and the rear derailleur.

“If your friendly bike mechanic is your friendly bike mechanic, he’ll teach you exactly how to treat the chain,” Morin said.

Kris Clark, who specializes in both bike sales and mechanical work at Back Bay Bicycle in Portland, recommends a combination of personal and professional bike inspection.

“The things you want to check periodically are the tire pressure, the brakes, the quick releases,” Clark said.

“And once a year, you want to make sure the frame isn’t cracked, whether it’s aluminum, carbon fiber or steel. That takes a really close inspection. Any time you take a fall or get into a crash, it’s a good idea to have a shop check it over to make sure there isn’t damage or that the frame is slightly bent.”

And an annual tune-up never hurts. Consider it a once-a-year investment in your bike’s overall health.

“It’s like your annual visit to the doctor’s office for the over-55 crowd,” Robie said. “Let someone else outside of the picture say, ‘Hey, things are good but not great,’ or ‘Things look good, so let’s keep it going.’ It gives a professional a chance to look at some other components on the bicycle, as well.”

Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be reached at 791-6415 or at:

rlenzi@pressherald.com

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