As I’ve previously covered, bike commuting can help reduce transportation costs significantly. Personally, I have enjoyed riding to work by bike for many years – finding an appropriate commuter bike is key and will increase your likelihood of sticking with it; along with learning bike maintenance basics. In this article we’ll cover some bike maintenance 101 tips.
Your ideal bike will help reduce maintenance expenses; however, as you rack up more miles something might go wrong:
Your tires could get flats, your brakes could wear down and become less responsive, and your chain could bind.
Your tire tread may wear down or start cracking as time goes on, just as with most things in life – once you master how to address the most frequent handful of problems, 90% of your gains can be realized. By applying Pareto’s Principle to bike maintenance, 80% of issues stemming from just 20% of parts – which consists of your tires, tubes, brakes and chain.
If you can just learn the way:
By learning four simple skills for diagnosing and fixing flat tires on bikes – diagnosing, repairing, tuning your brakes, cleaning and lubricating the chain/drivetrain of your bicycle, you will save yourself plenty of headaches, time, money, and keep cycling! Just four straightforward lessons!
Concerning money saving opportunities – I recall hearing of a bike mechanic who fixed 60 flat tires in one day in my town (where at least eight bike shops exist). When I called to inquire about prices I found out it would cost $5.99 for tubes and $10 in labor; considering they probably purchased them for less than $1 each it’s likely they made $900 pure profit in just one day; an essential skill every cyclist should possess!
Why solve it on your own? Imagine being stuck out on the road if something goes wrong – would you want a stranger to find, pick up and transport you home or face walking the few hours back home alone, or would you rather be self reliant and fix the flat yourself in just 15 minutes and move forward with life as usual?
If you prefer paying someone else to fix your flats instead of learning how to do it yourself, please reconsider bike commuting!
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