7 Easy Steps To Tune-Up Bike At Home
Everyone who has a bicycle should understand that a regular tune-up bike is essential for riding smoothly and peacefully. Proper tuning up a bike will help to improve speed and performance. It is the common practice of every bike rider to face extra tune-up costs when repairing any part of the bike.
In this article, we will discuss the 7-step formula for tuning up a bike at home without needing the professional hands of bike mechanics. you will learn easy ways to wash the bike, lubricate moving parts, tighten loose nuts, and check brakes, handlebars, seat, chain, and other bike components.
Before discussing the main points to tune-up bike, we should clearly understand how much a local repair shop charges for regular bike tuning and how you can save money and time by following our simple steps. No one can care for your bike as much as you can.
Regular Bike Tune-Up Cost At The Local Shop:
Most bike repair shops offer two regular options to tune-up bike: minor/ basic and major/advanced. The average bike tune-up cost will be between $60 and $150, depending on physical condition and bike model type. However, the extra cost of repairing or replacing bike parts may affect your budget and increase the final total from $200 to $250.
Material & Tools Required To Tune-up Bike:
| Image | Product | Price |
1  | Bicycle Repair Tool Kit Bag | |
2  | WD-40 Bike Chain Lube & Degreaser | |
3  | Park Tool Chain Cleaning System | |
4  | SKS GERMANY Digital Pressure Gauge | |
5  | Microfiber Cleaning Cloth |
Seven Steps To Tune-Up Bike:
As we know, each spare part of a bicycle becomes expensive over time. The following simple bike maintenance tips can be used as a checklist to tune-up bike to give extra care and enjoy riding for a long time. These tips will also help you to reduce the extra bicycle tune-up cost during tuning.
Here are seven valuable steps you can use as tips for quickly tuning up a bike at home on a minimum budget without compromising performance.
Step 1: Wash The bike From Top To Bottom:
If you ride daily, you must schedule a regular bike wash weekly or monthly. First, clean mud and dust from the dirty components of the bike using a dry rag, then follow these four simple steps to wash the bike.
- Wash the frame with warm, soapy water by using a sponge or soft brush.
- Clean the rim, brakes, and wheels.
- Use the best degreaser to remove the lubricant and dirty oil from the wheel hub and bike chain.
- Remember to dry it after cleaning a bicycle.
Washing the bike will enhance each component’s performance and increase your bike’s lifespan. Hence, there will be fewer chances of damage to any bike part. Therefore, this is the primary and most crucial step to start tunning up a bike.
Note: As an expert bike mechanic, we suggest you avoid using a pressure washer, which may damage your bike’s paint.
Step 2: Lubricate The Moving Parts:
Re-lubrication is required after washing your bike or riding a bicycle in wet or dusty places. It is necessary to clean and lubricate the moving parts of your bicycle, as it protects them from friction and keeps them moving freely. We regularly use WD-40 bike chain lube in our workshop to lubricate the bike chain, pedals, brake lever, and front and back wheels.
Step 3: Check All The Losing Nuts & Bolts:
Check, find out, and tighten all the loose nuts from the front wheel to the back wheel using a wrench because it is an essential part of bike tuning. If you do not give any care and don’t tighten the losing bolts and nuts, your bike parts will break down very soon. you can buy a multi-purpose bike repairing tool kit that comes with all essential tools to repair and maintain a bike.
Related: How To Tighten A Bike Chain in Easiest Way
The main reason you pay extra money at bike shops is to repair or replace the damaged parts of the bike due to negligence, such as losing bolts. Therefore, always keep a regular check and tighten all the loose nuts to hold the components of your bicycle, reducing your bike tune-up cost.
Step 4: Check The Wheel’s Alignment And Tire’s Cracking:
You can quickly analyze the alignment of your front and rear wheels at home. Just stand before the tire and spin the wheel with one hand. If the wheel is slightly rubbing against the brake pad from one side, you need to push the wheel from the opposite side. Also, check the swelling and cracking of your tires. Replace tires if necessary.
Step 5: Check The Tire Pressure:
To protect the bike’s wheels, you must check the alignment and tire pressure regularly using a Digital Pressure Gauge. The air in the tire works as a shock absorber to protect the wheel during hard and fast riding. Riding a bike at low tire pressure will damage both tires and wheels.
Otherwise, you will have to buy new bike tires and wheels, which will increase your budget for the bike tune-up cost. Therefore, you must check the tire pressure regularly to increase the lifespan of tires and control your bike tuning cost.
Related: How To Fix A Flat Bike Tire Quickly
Step 6: Check Brakes To Ensure Decent Grip:
The brakes are one of the main parts of a bicycle and play a vital role in controlling the speed. These brakes save us from accidents and injuries by stopping the bike immediately. Therefore, you have to regularly check how much material of the brake pads is left in the brake assembly. It is necessary to check the remaining material of your bike’s brake pads for safety from many problems due to brake failure.
To check the brake grip, spin the wheel by hand and pull the lever. When you apply the sudden brake, check for any shuttering or squealing sound because both are signs of a reduction in the brake’s ability. If you see that the brakes are not working correctly, then you should replace them as a priority.
Step 7: Adjustment of The Handlebar And Seat Height:
Adjusting the bike seat and handlebars is simple and does not require removing any of them from the bike. You can easily make these adjustments at home, but if you are a new cyclist and don’t know how to confirm or recheck the correct adjustment of the handlebar and seat post. You can follow these simple steps.
1. Adjustment of Bike Seat:
Easily adjust the seat height of your bike according to your inseam height. Just stand beside the seat, lose the bolt under it, twist up or down the seat up to your hip, and then tighten the bolt. If you have long legs, raise the seat; if you have short legs, lower the seat.
2. Adjustment of Handlebar:
It will take 5 to 10 minutes to perfectly adjust the handlebar of the bicycle according to your height to ride smoothly. Remove the long bolt and side screw of the handlebar with the help of an Allen key. Then, pull off the handlebar and add or remove the spacer (small rings) to increase or decrease the height of the handle. Attach the handlebar back over the spacer, Align the front wheel, and then use the wrench to tighten the bolt.
Professional Tip For Beginners:
As a professional, I always suggest that my friends and other colleagues bikers to use a bike repair stand when they tune up their bikes at home. This tool helps you very much in every bike maintenance service at home. It saves your energy and keeps you tension-free when holding the bike. Therefore, a good-quality bike stand should be part of your garage.
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Conclusion:
As we learn in the above article, just following simple steps can save a lot of money and time and also improve the performance of our bike. Do not reduce the efficiency of bikes due to little mistakes of not maintaining the bike regularly. As a result, we have to face extra repair or replacement charges when bike tunning is done. Which also increases bike tune-up budget.
However, you can reduce your bike tuning cost by following the above bike tune-up checklist, which includes regular washing, lubricating the moving parts, tightening the loose nuts and bolts, regularly checking the Alignment of wheels and cracking of tires and brake pads, maintaining the tire pressure, etc. All the above steps to tune-up bike will not only improve the performance but also help you to reduce bike repairing costs.
FAQs About Bike Tune-Up:
Q.1 What happens if we don’t regularly tune-up bike?
Regular tuning up a bike after one month is most important. If you do not do this, dusty parts will be misaligned rapidly, and we will have to ride bikes with loose chains, imbalanced wheels, noisy gears, cracked tires, and other issues, which will also increase our bike tune-up cost.
Q.2 Are bike tune-ups worth it?
Yes, regular bike tune-ups are worth it. Routine tuning of bicycles makes them usable for a long time by enhancing the performance of components.
Q.3 How to tune-up bike at home?
follow the above simple step-by-step procedure for bike tune up your at home. Wash your bike, lubricate all moving parts such as the chain, wheels, etc., check the brakes, wheel alignment, and tire condition, and tighten all the loose nuts and bolts. These primary steps will help you reduce your monthly bike tune-up cost at the local shop.
Q.4 How to tune up a mountain bike at home?
As we know, mountain bikes are heavier than standard bikes and have advanced features and massive tires. Some extra time will be taken to tune up a mountain bike at home. However, you can also apply the seven tips described in the above article for tuning to control mountain bike tune-up costs.
Q.5 Does bike tune-up also include brakes?
Checking and maintaining brakes is the primary and crucial part of the bike tune-up process. Brakes allow us to suddenly stop in an emergency and save the bike’s components from any damage caused by hitting.
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