Maintenance Schedule

[jdmara]

First of all let me apoligize if this has previously been discussed. I'm new to the biking world and have searched and searched for this but am unable to find this information.

I recently just purchased a 2009 Specialized Allez Sport Road Bike and am trying to learn how to best maintain my investment so it lasts me years and years. This is my first bike since I was 12 and 13 years later I made quite an upgrade from a $50 garage sale bike to this one. Whenever one buys a car, it could with a manual (as do bicycles). One thing that is in a car manual that is not in my bicycle manual, however, is a maintenance schedule. (For a car this would include when to change the oil, replace belts, etc.) Is there a maintenance schedule for bikes that would list when particular components need to be replaced, serviced, etc?

Unfortunately, I'm not too familiar with the components so a guide directing me to the reccommended maintenance would be awesome! Thank you so much. In the week I've owed my bike I've learned so much from this site.

-Josh

[Alex Ramon]

I'm <a href="http://bikeride.com/requests/maintenance-schedule/">planning to do a tutorial on this topic</a>!

[jdmara]

Definitely not to rush or be a pester but any idea when that might come around?

[Alex Ramon]

I'm not sure... probably sometime this winter. There are a lot of <a href="http://bikeride.com/requests/">requests</a> to get done. Thanks for your patience!

[Aushiker]

G'day

The clean and lube the chain at N kilometres (miles) is just about a religious debate, but I will share what I do. I commute on flatbar Chase, a Giant CRX 1 and use Froggie, my Look 555 now as a weekend warrior. Julia is my Giant XTC mountain bike which I use for off-road touring and fun. With all of them but probably more importantly for Chase which is my all weather commuter I adopt a 500 km maintenance schedule. That is every 500 km I clean and lube the chain, clean the bike, check the condition of the brakes and tyres, check bolt tensions and so on.

Andrew

[Skyguy9999]

<blockquote>
Whenever one buys a car, it could with a manual (as do bicycles). One thing that is in a car manual that is not in my bicycle manual, however, is a maintenance schedule. (For a car this would include when to change the oil, replace belts, etc.) Is there a maintenance schedule for bikes that would list when particular components need to be replaced, serviced, etc?
</blockquote>

For what it's worth, I did find a manual for one of my project bikes that seems to be pretty thorough in a lot of things. Of course, it wasn't quite good in others (evidence: my first question here). I'm not sure it would be worth reproducing the maintenance schedule printed within it here or not, but it would be a great conversation starter if anything. I can always post it if people request though.