A full bike service should be carried after two or three years of reasonable use and more frequently if you record high mileage.

The Mobile Cycle Medic Full Service includes:

  • basic safety check
  • chain wear check
  • clean of chain and gears, followed by re-lubrication
  • replacement of gear cables (if required) and re-indexing of gears
  • replacement of brake cables (if required) and brake block
  • replacement of bearings in wheels, headset and bottom bracket (if required)

Time for a Chain Change?

During a full service a chain change is typically required. The effect of chain wear is to make the distance between each chain roller longer than original manufactured 1/2 inch.  When a chain weakens, it often fails to sit neatly in the gear sprockets, giving the impression that the gears aren’t working properly. Secondly, and more costly, is that the rollers wear the trailing faces of the gear sprocket teeth, making the gear situation even worse. It is not feasible to measure chain wear on one link. The gauge measures the distance over a number of chain links  and indicates wear of between 0 and 1%. When chain wear approaches 0.75%, Mobile Cycle Medic advises that it should be changed. Should the wear reach 1.0% and the chain not changed, there will have been excessive wear on the gear sprockets and these will need to be changed. In extreme cases, the teeth on the chain ring start to look like shark’s fins and will require changing.

Tip: Always change your chain just before it reaches 0.75% worn. On the third change of the chain, change the sprockets as well.