Road bike service intervals

[Ridgeway]

Service intervals on a bike are pointless.

5000 dry miles are not like 5000 wet miles. And as has been pointed out it's how you look after the bike in that time. I'll only change a brake cable if it needs it. Never had an issue in decades of riding.

I'm wary of people taking their bike in for an annual service. You're more likely to get issues once the bike has been tinkered with.

Do it yourself and don't rely on an overworked bike shop doing everything in one bit.

This is my plan, DIY all the way

 

[Ajax Bay]

This is my plan, DIY all the way

Will not DIYing your bikes' regular servicing reduce their resale value as you will be able to offer no service history for the discerning Swiss would-be purchaser?

 

[Ridgeway]

Will not DIYing your bikes' regular servicing reduce their resale value as you will be able to offer no service history for the discerning Swiss would-be purchaser?

Yup but i'm a hoarder but you're spot on with that thought

 

[itboffin]

I’ve never touched a spoke . In fact I don’t have a spoke key. In the 60000 miles since 2006 I’ve had two good bikes with hand made wheels from thorn and spa. Rims have worn out and been replaced but never gone untrue.

that's also very low mileage for two bikes over 14 years, what is the 178 miles a month? anyway to the OP point when you clean your bike you'll see and feel excessive wear, rims on the wheels become grooved, pads are noticeably thinner and there's more pull on the levers to brake, teeth on the chainrings first get pointy then if left go shark toothed, i've always found cassettes harder to tell until they start skipping or really bad shifting, obviously by then those parts a far passed best before date.

If you ride your bike enough you'll notice when it starts behaving out of the ordinary that's the time to have a really good clean and check things over.

I know enough about bikes but nothing about cars yet today I could hear a noise coming from the engine area of my car that was irregular and not heard before so it'll be off to the garage for a check up.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Assuming more or less dry miles what's a decent service schedule for a road bike ? Main tasks i can think of are:

- Headset clean and grease

Put the front brake on and push your bike forward. Is there any sign of headset play or rocking? Turn bars from side to side, does it feel notch? Then it’s over tightened. If yes, adjust the preload eliminate it. Most headsets are sealed, so just replace when end of life. But if headset correctly adjusted itll go 10s of 1000 km before it needs replacing.

- BB clean and grease

Again most BBs are sealed and unless it’s making noises you can leave alone. These are cheap components , often costing less than a chain.

- Spoke tension check

Unless the wheel has gone out of true , leave alone. Just spin wheel in frame and see if it looks to have developed an obvious wobble. Beware of thinking it’s out of true when it just the tyre creating that effect.

- Wheel bearing clean and grease

I will have a look once a year or so, usually after the winter. Unless I have reason to suspect the grease is low going into winter.

- Drive train (cassette, jockey wheels and chain) off bike full degrease and clean

Never , I try and keep them clean and well maintained on a continuous basis. A wipe down with a rag, and relube when required if often enough. What I do do is use a chain wear tool about once a month just ensure I catch replacing chain before chain rings and / or cassette need doing as well.

What frequency would i need to carry out the above and what have i missed

See my inline responses in the quote.

You have missed checking for any loose bolts now and again.

You have missed taking the seat post out and greasing it or using things like copper slip etc. to ensure it doesn’t get seized in the frame.

You have missed checking your brake pads.

If gear cables start getting a bit sticky then you may need to service those.

Do you have hydraulics? Bleed those if they start getting spongy.

 

[Ajax Bay]

In the same theme as @YukonBoy's comment about seat posts, as preventative maintenance I'd also advocate removing pedals, cleaning the interface/threads, regreasing and reassembling; annually. The cassette will come off and the freehub cleaned when the drivetrain gets its 'chain change' clean ~2,500km.