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A bicycle is one of the few machines you can see all of. Nothing is hidden behind a panel. Every part is visible and touchable.
Which means most of what a shop charges for is not knowledge. It is having looked.
Cycling instructors teach a quick check before every ride, and it spells ABCD.
Air in the tyres. Brakes that stop the bike. Chain, cables and cogs. Direction, meaning the bars and saddle are tight and straight.
Four things, done standing over the bike, before you get on.
Stand beside the bike and push it forward. Squeeze the front brake. The bike should stop and the back wheel should want to lift.
Push it backwards and squeeze the rear one. Same test.
A lever that comes all the way to the handlebar is not ready to ride.
For a longer look there is the M check, named after the shape your hands trace.
Start at the back wheel. Up to the saddle. Down to the pedals and bottom bracket. Up to the handlebars. Down to the front wheel.
You touch and wobble every part on the way. It takes about five minutes.
Look at the side wall of the tyre. There is a pressure range printed on it.
That is the manufacturer's answer, and it is the only one that matters. A thin road tyre and a fat mountain tyre want completely different pressures, and advice meant for one is wrong for the other.
You hit a kerb and get two small holes in the tube, side by side. What caused it?
You have taken out the punctured tube. What must happen before the new one goes in?
Put a roadside puncture repair in order.
Put these in order
A dry chain is loud, slow and expensive.
It is expensive because a worn chain wears the cogs it runs on. Replace a chain in time and it is a small part. Leave it and you are buying the cogs too.
After putting oil on the chain, what should you do next?
Chain oils come in two kinds and the labels are not obvious.
Wet lube is thick, survives rain, and gathers dirt. Dry lube is thin, stays cleaner, and washes off in a downpour.
Riding in winter rain, use wet. Riding in dry dust, use dry. Using engine oil or cooking oil, use neither.
Brakes that press on the wheel rim have pads with grooves cut into them. When the grooves are gone, the pads are gone.
Brakes that press on a metal disc have pads inside a caliper, and a thin layer of material on a metal backing. When you can barely see the material, they are finished.
Disc brakes have a shiny metal rotor on the wheel.
Do not put fingers on it, and never let oil near it. Even a thumbprint of grease can leave a brake that squeals and grabs badly for weeks.
Hold the wheel by the tyre and the spokes.
Many wheels are held by a lever that clamps rather than a nut that turns.
Closed, it should need real force with your palm and leave a mark on your hand. It should end up tucked back along the fork, not sticking forward, where something can flick it open.
This is a thirty second check that fixes a very bad accident.
Gears that clatter in one gear and behave in others are usually not broken. The cable has stretched a little, so the mechanism sits slightly off.
There is a small knurled barrel where the cable enters the mechanism. Turn it a quarter turn while pedalling and listen. Quarter turns, one at a time, and stop when it goes quiet.
If your bike has gears at the front and the back, the biggest at both ends is a bad pair. So is the smallest at both ends.
The chain has to run at a hard angle to reach, so it rubs, wears and slips off. You can hear it. Move the front one and the noise stops.
Sit on the saddle and put your heel on the pedal at the bottom. Your leg should be straight, with the hip level.
Ride with the ball of your foot on the pedal and there is now a slight bend, which is what the knee wants.
Too low is the common mistake, and it is the one that hurts knees.
What actually needs to be on the bike with you?
Tap an item, then a bucket
Warm water, a little washing-up liquid, a brush and a cloth.
Never a pressure washer. The bearings in the hubs and the pedals are packed with grease behind small seals, and a jet drives water straight past them. The bike comes out gleaming and starts grinding a month later.
Squeeze both tyres. Squeeze both brake levers. Look at the chain.
That is it. That one habit prevents most roadside failures, and it is the difference between a bike you trust and a bike you keep meaning to take somewhere.