Get Your Bike Ready for Spring

Get Your Bike Ready for Spring

It’s still snowing in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, but spring is just around the corner. Many valley-side trails and bike parks will become dry in the coming weeks, and desert riding is in full swing (it’s not too late to sign up for our upcoming clinics). If you haven’t already, we recommend taking your bike out of storage and giving it a spring tune-up. It’s much more fun than spring cleaning, and will ensure that your bike is ready to hit the dirt the second that conditions allow!


IMPORTANT: If your bike needs more work than you have time for or feel comfortable doing, now is the time to get it to the shop before the spring rush.

Here are some tips for getting your bike ready for spring riding:

Clean your bike

  • Start by wiping, brushing, and/or rinsing loose dirt off your bike. Spray your frame, cassette, and chain with bike cleaner, let it sit for a couple of minutes, and continue brushing or wiping to remove finer particles. Rinse. 

  • Give your chain a thorough cleaning with a stiff brush or chain scrubber. Rinse.

  • Remove your wheels and clean chainstays, seat stays, and linkages. Thoroughly scrub your cassette and rinse. Pat dry.

  • Put your wheels back on and use a rag to dry your chain. Once dry, apply lubricant to your chain—we like to apply it in front of the jockey wheel to make sure it doesn’t get on disc brakes. Run the chain through a few times and wipe off excess lube. 


Lube your suspension

Apply a suspension lube to your rear and front shocks and wipe with a soft rag. Use a zip tie to work lube into fork seals. Wipe off excess, compress front shocks a few times, and repeat until fork seals are clean and compression is smooth.

Pump up your tires.

Make sure your tires are inflated to an appropriate pressure. (If you’re not sure what that is, click here for a rough guide.)


Safety Check

Give your bike a visual safety check. Examine your frame, wheels, tires, spokes, chain, seat, handlebars, brakes, shifters, derailleurs, cranks, and pedals. Replace anything that is damaged or worn.

Once you’ve visually inspected your bike, take it for a spin around your block or in a parking lot to look for other issues. Then start researching spring rides near you and get stoked for an amazing 2023 mountain bike season!