I usually check my bike every weekend when I’m riding daily. Clean and lube the chain, true up the wheels and adjust the deraileurs, if needed, and give it a general once-over. I used to replace broken rear spokes on a regular basis, until I replaced my rear rim with a 40 spoke DT Swiss rim.

But last week, I was too busy, and didn’t get my regular maintenance done–my bike never needs air and it was shifting fine, so I figured I could skip a week. Thursday afternoon, my bike felt a little funny going down hills, like the rear tire was low on air. But there was no leak, and when I spun the wheel, it was still pretty true, so I figured I was imagining it…

Then, Friday morning, I definitely felt something very much like a low tire, and it got worse with every mile. Coming down 4th Avenue after arriving in Seattle, I started to get worried–it was getting bad quickly. Before I left for home that afternoon, I checked–no problem with the air, but at least a dozen spokes were loose, some of them almost to the point of separating from the nipple!

I’ve broken plenty of spokes in my day, but I’ve never seen this happen before. I had no spoke wrench with me, and had to to stop a number of times to hand-tighten the spokes before I got home. The incident torched the tire (from rubbing on the rim brakes), and I spent several hours rebuilding the wheel, but I learned my lesson: Pluck your spokes and listen to the tone every week, to make sure they’re uniformly tight.

All bikes make a little noise. Some are almost completely silent. Know how your bike sounds when it’s healthy. If it makes a new noise, figure it the cause before it becomes dangerous or expensive. A buddy overlooked a brake noise a little too long. Turns out the pad wore down to the metal base and gouged the rear rim. He got to buy a new rim along with a new set of brake pads. The wallet says, “Ouch!”

Bike ‘joints’ (think hubs, headset, bottom bracket, pedal spindles, brake arms) are meant rotate or pivot in one plane. If there’s any play in the joint, something is loose, worn, or damaged. Look for loose joints when you clean and before you ride. If you don’t know how to fix the loose joint, or don’t know whether or not a particular loose joint represents a safety issue, see your bike mechanic.

Keeping it clean is one way to spot those problems before they leave you stranded, down on the pavement, or just out some unnecessary bucks. Gently removing grit and road grime from the frame and rotating parts will make your bike last longer and probably make you feel better on your rides. Pulling the wheels is the easiest way to clean them and gives you better access to the brakes for inspection and cleaning. Just be sure that when you reassemble the wheels to the bike, you maintain the same wheel alignment and pad position on the wheel.

Our winter weather is rough on bikes used for commuting. It’s wet gritty and cold, and you travel both directions in the dark or near dark. Making time and a place for proper cleaning is tough, but you need to do it every couple of weeks, at least. Wear is inevitable, but keeping it clean can make things last a little longer.