A large part of Bike Bros. continued growth and popularity is our service department. The downside is this: Good bike
mechanics don't grow on trees. Good bike mechanics who are a pleasure to deal with are as rare as polka-dotted diamonds. We
don't hire to fill vacancies, we hire whenever we're presented with exceptionally talented, nice, pleasant people.
Why am I babbling about staff in the middle of the service page you ask. Well, we have a limited number of these awesome service
people so we have a limit to the amount of service we can do. We book appointments so we don't need to rent a warehouse to store all the
bikes that would be waiting for service if we didn't do appointments.
What We WON'T Service
Please don't bring us bikes from MalWart, Rondon Drugs, CaJun Tire etc. These bike-shaped
objects probably didn't work when they were new, the parts are all disposable quality and will never
operate safely or reliably. I'm am truly sorry, but our sanity is at stake, and the legal liability of
sending you out on a repaired, yet unsafe bike isn't worth it.
3 Maintenance Tips - things to look for... or at
Tire Pressure
Tires are the easiest maintenance item on a bike. Tires will lose pressure over time. If you haven't ridden your bike
in a while - you will certainly have to add some air. Look on the side of your tires - there will be a recommended max. pressure
and perhaps even a recommended pressure range. As a very general rule, for riding on paved roads, keep tires close to maximum pressure, for
off road riding stay in the lower range of recommended pressure.
Kids always have problems with flat tires. Either they skid through tires or ride their bikes with underinflated tires and hit curbs or cracks
and cause pinch flats. Keep kids tires at max all the time!
Chain cleaning & lube
Bike mechanics see it all the time. The chain with thick black grunge dripping off it. It makes us cringe. Every time you lube a chain
you should first clean it. At very least, use a cloth and wipe off the old dirty oil. At most, use a chain cleaning device or remove the chain
and use some sort of solvent to dissolve old oil. ****ONE NOTE**** If you're going to go all out and clean your chain, you either have to
blow off the chain with compressed air or give it time for the solvent to evaporate. Reinstalling and relubing a chain that still has solvent
inside the rollers defeats the purpose.
Derailleur Hangers
Most modern bikes with derailleurs have the rear derailleur mounted to a derailleur hanger. The hanger is a sacraficial part that can bend
relatively easily if the rear derailleur is hit, leaned on, knocked etc. If your bikes have been piled in the back of a truck or if you
have recently had a fall on your bike and now your rear shifting isn't working well - look at your rear derailleur from behind.
If your derailleur's pullies aren't parallel to your rear wheel - get your bike into a shop sooner than later. You need you hanger aligned.