What should a spring bike tune-up include?

Six things: inflate and inspect the tires, test the brakes, measure chain wear, check the cables and shifting, torque the key bolts, and give the bike a wash and re-lube. On most bikes that stored well over winter it's an hour of work. The one measurement that saves money is chain wear, since a chain past 0.75% will grind your cassette.

Do bike tires lose pressure over winter?

Yes. Tubes and tubeless tires both leak air slowly, so a bike parked for months will be soft or flat. Reinflate to the pressure printed on the sidewall and look for cracks, cuts, or a squared-off tread before you ride. Tubeless sealant can also dry out over a long layup and may need topping up.

How do I know if my chain survived winter storage?

Measure it with a chain-checker tool. At 0.75% elongation on an 11- or 12-speed drivetrain the chain is worn out. Storage itself doesn't stretch a chain, but the miles from last season did, so spring is the right time to check before you add more.

Should I get a professional service in spring?

If the bike sat all winter and everything checks out, a home tune-up is usually enough. Book a shop service if the wheels are out of true, the bearings feel gritty, or shifting won't come good after fresh cables. Most regular riders get a pro service once or twice a year.

Spring Bike Tune-Up Checklist (Waking a Bike From Winter Storage)

A bike that sat through winter doesn't come back to life on its own. Tires go soft, lube dries out, cables stiffen, and any wear that was creeping up last season is still there waiting for you. A spring tune-up is about catching those things in the garage instead of on the road. Give it an hour and you start the season on a bike you can trust.

The spring tune-up checklist

Work through it in order. Each item is a quick look or a quick test, and the table tells you exactly what you're looking for.

Checklist item	What to look for
Tires	Soft or flat after storage; reinflate to sidewall pressure. Cracks, cuts, squared-off tread, or dried tubeless sealant
Brakes	Lever bites firmly and stops the wheel. Disc pads above ~1 mm of friction material; rim pads with grooves still showing
Chain wear	Measure with a chain-checker; 0.75% means replace. Past 1% and the cassette is likely gone too
Cables	Fraying at the ends, stiff or gritty movement, vague or slow shifting
Bolts	Stem, bars, seatpost, and axles all torqued and secure; nothing rattling
Wash and lube	Grime cleaned off, bike dried, chain re-lubed before the first ride

Start with air and brakes

Tires lose pressure just sitting there, so both will be low or flat. Inflate to the pressure printed on the sidewall, then look the tire over: cracks in the rubber, cuts, embedded glass, or a center tread worn flat all mean it's time for a replacement. On tubeless setups, check that the sealant hasn't dried out over the layup.

Then the brakes. Squeeze each lever - it should bite firmly well before it hits the bar, and the wheel should stop. On disc brakes, replace the pads when the friction material is under about 1 mm or you hear metal-on-metal. On rim brakes, replace when the wear grooves are gone. This is the B in the pre-ride ABC check, and it's worth doing properly before the first ride of the year.

Check the chain before you add miles

This is the measurement that saves money. Chain wear is elongation - how much the chain has stretched under load - and the number that matters is 0.75% for 11- and 12-speed drivetrains. Seat a chain-checker in the chain; if it drops into the 0.75% mark, the chain is worn out. No tool? 24 links measure exactly 12 inches when new, so replace it if it's stretched past 12 1/16 inches.

Catch it at 0.75% and a fresh chain still meshes with your existing cassette. Wait until past 1% and the cassette teeth have worn to match, so a new chain skips under load and you're buying a cassette too. Winter storage doesn't stretch a chain, but last season's miles did - which is exactly why spring is the time to check. For the full breakdown, see when to replace a bike chain.

Cables, bolts, and a wash

Work the shifters through every gear. If shifting is vague or gritty, or you see fraying where the cables meet the levers, replace the inner and outer housing - cables typically want renewing about once a year or every 2,000 to 4,000 miles. Then go around the key bolts: stem, handlebar, seatpost, and both wheel axles. Snug and secure, not loose.

Finish with a wash. Winter leaves salt and grime that quietly grind at the drivetrain, so clean the bike, dry it, and re-lube the chain. A regular rider washes roughly every two weeks in season anyway - just don't blast the bearings with a pressure washer.

Where mileage comes in

Most of this checklist is condition-based: you inflate the tire that's soft, replace the chain that's stretched. But the reason those parts wore at all is the miles you rode last season, and the reason to check now is that a new season of miles is about to start. Grit and load wear parts out, not the calendar - so a mileage count tells you far more than a date.

That's what Pedal Wrencher does. It connects to Strava, counts the real miles on each bike, and emails you when a wear part is due - so the next "check the chain" lands at the right mileage instead of the following spring. It won't tune the bike for you, but it makes sure the checklist happens on time.