{"id":7960,"date":"2014-11-17T17:52:20","date_gmt":"2014-11-17T17:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/?p=7960"},"modified":"2018-01-17T11:43:48","modified_gmt":"2018-01-17T11:43:48","slug":"10-minute-pre-winter-bike-check-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/10-minute-pre-winter-bike-check-2\/","title":{"rendered":"10 minute pre-winter bike check"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Prevention is better than cure. Stop a problem before it starts &#8211; or gets any worse &#8211; with this easy-to-do bike checkup. It features the word &#8216;lube&#8217; a lot.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Some of these things a lot of you will know &#8211; and do &#8211; already but we reckon there&#8217;ll be a couple of &#8220;oh yeah&#8221; reminders in this list for everyone.<\/p>\n<h2>Headset<\/h2>\n<p>Your headset can a whole hidden world of brown mess. Clean out and re-lube your headset with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/fenwicks-assembly-grease-100-grams-57149.html?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=blog-47\">decent grease<\/a>. Hopefully you&#8217;ll have caught it before your bearings or races get pitted or rusty.<\/p>\n<h2>Seatpost<\/h2>\n<p>Clean and re-lube your seatpost. If your seatpost &#8211; or your frame &#8211; is carbon fibre then DO NOT use normal grease. It can make the carbon swell up and never be the same again. There are\u00a0<span class=\"expiredLink\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/finish-line-fiber-grip-carbon-fibre-assembly-gel-50ml-49423.html?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=blog-47\">specific carbon-friendly greases (this is an old post and the linked content no longer exists)<\/span>\u00a0available.<\/p>\n<h2>Cleats<\/h2>\n<p>Seized-in cleat bolts can sometimes be an expensive mistake to make. You&#8217;ll either need to buy a new drill bit to drill the bolt heads off or you may even need you shoes. Take the time now to remove your cleat bolts and apply the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/fenwicks-copper-anti-seize-100g-tub-57148.html?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=blog-47\">proper anti-seize<\/a>\u00a0to them.<\/p>\n<h2>Pedals<\/h2>\n<p>Another potentially very expensive problem. Pedals seized into crank arms. This can mean you have to buy new cranks (and pedals)! Remove your pedals and apply a bit of anti-seize to the axle threads.<\/p>\n<h2>Quick releases<\/h2>\n<p>Another hidden zone that can secretly turn into rust-ville over winter. Remove your skerwers, give a clean, lightly grease and re-install. This will prevent annoying squeaks developing too.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7993 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/RustyBikeChain.png\" alt=\"RustyBikeChain\" width=\"602\" height=\"338\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 602px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 602\/338;\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Chain<\/h2>\n<p>Use a\u00a0<span class=\"expiredLink\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/rocknroll-extreme-lube-4oz-56873.html?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=blog-47\">longer-lasting chain lube (this is an old post and the linked content no longer exists)<\/span>. If you&#8217;re going out on a really long, really wet ride then contemplate taking some lube with you. Your drivetrain will thank you for it.<\/p>\n<h2>Spokes<\/h2>\n<p>Check your wheels for loose spokes. If you know what you&#8217;re doing, re-tension any loose ones. If you&#8217;re not confident with tweaking nipples, get a bike shop to do it.<\/p>\n<h2>Tyres<\/h2>\n<p>Make the move to winter-friendly tyres. What makes a winter-friendly tyre? Channels and grooves for water to escape. Often the rubber compound is different too. Consider going up a size ie\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/continental-gatorskin-folding-road-tyre-61932.html?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=blog-47\">23mm up to 25mm<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Tubes<\/h2>\n<p>Water acts a lubricant for nasty bits slitting into your tyres and causing punctures. Bung another inner tube in your usual riding pack. Even if you manage to escape a dreaded puncture chances are someone else in your riding group will have one!<\/p>\n<h2>Bolts<\/h2>\n<p>Check over all your important bolts. Tighten any loose ones. Ease-off and re-tighten any that are far too, damagingly, tight. If you&#8217;re looking for an excuse to buy a funky new tool, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/icetoolz-torque-wrench-range-5-25nm-1-4-3-8-driver-44465.html?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=blog-47\">now&#8217;s your chance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7991 size-thumbnail lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/12282_swissstop_full_flashpro_bxp_brake_blocks-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"swissstop full flashpro bxp brake blocks\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/12282_swissstop_full_flashpro_bxp_brake_blocks-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/12282_swissstop_full_flashpro_bxp_brake_blocks.jpg 600w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 150px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 150\/150;\" \/>Brakes<\/h2>\n<p>Check your brake pads. Wet rides can eat through pads so make sure you aren&#8217;t starting the winter with already worn-down pads. You can get wet weather specific compound brake pads. Moving from OEM or cheap brake pads to a set of premium pads will work wonders.<\/p>\n<h2>Rear light<\/h2>\n<p>Sometimes you end up being caught out. Either through a mechanical disaster or just plain wanting to ride one-more-hill because you&#8217;re having such a good time (you&#8217;re having a ball). Stow a <span class=\"expiredLink\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/knog-frog-strobe-rear-bike-light-72566.html?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=blog-47\">dinky LED light (this is an old post and the linked content no longer exists)<\/span> in your pack or pocket. Peace of mind.<\/p>\n<h2>Go ride!<\/h2>\n<p>Now you&#8217;ve checked it all, go for a spin. Winter riding rocks!<\/p>\n<p>(And we didn&#8217;t even get to mention mudguards &#8211; phew)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prevention is better than cure. Stop a problem before it starts &#8211; or gets any worse &#8211; with this easy-to-do bike checkup. It features the word &#8216;lube&#8217; a lot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":7993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,4],"tags":[976,531,590,532,565,975,604,52,591],"ppma_author":[4639],"class_list":["post-7960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cycling-how-to-guides","category-news","tag-anti-seize","tag-grease","tag-how-to","tag-lube","tag-maintenance","tag-oil","tag-prep","tag-winter","tag-workshop","author-benji"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>10 minute pre-winter bike check - Merlin Cycles Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/10-minute-pre-winter-bike-check-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 minute pre-winter bike check\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prevention is better than cure. 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