HOW TO PROPERLY MAINTAIN YOUR GRAVEL ?

Ah, Gravel bikes! This practice from the United States that makes you ride on roads, paths and rough trails during the same ride... This freedom that allows you to get away from busy roads and to discover many routes that will expose you to water, mud, dust and other dirt!

All these conditions make Gravel a dirty practice, especially for your bike which will accumulate piles of mud, grains of sand or dust particles depending on your path! Gravel rides where you and your bike will end up completely clean and dry are rare. But if you want to keep your bike as long as possible, it is essential to take good care of it, otherwise the wear and tear of the parts and its life span will be strongly impacted.

Protect your Gravel the best way

The maintenance of your Gravel bike requires prevention. We mentioned it in our article on how to protect your frame, it is necessary to protect your bike from shocks and scratches beforehand to avoid bad surprises during or after a ride. The Gravel practice will make you cross many trails, sometimes rough and a shock could arrive very quickly!

"A well-maintained bike is an economical bike (in effort and in parts)"

Simon, Maintenance Product Manager at Zéfal

The Skin Armor is a high resistance frame protection. This polyurethane film will protect your bike from shocks, tears, water, perforation but also from the rubbing of bikepacking straps. Perfect to avoid a damaged frame that will make it vulnerable to future shocks. Basic protections like the CS Armor will protect your bike from chain impacts especially since a Gravel bike will rarely have a basic integrated protection at this level. The Crank Armor will protect your cranks from impacts and stone chips. These are the types of products not to be neglected when protecting your Gravel.

Here, the goal is to be preventive and to avoid regretting too late not to have installed the necessary protections on your Gravel when it was still time, and at low cost!

CS Armor

Maintain your Gravel

Now that your Gravel is well protected, it is now time to maintain it regularly. As mentioned in our article on how to clean your bike, it is essential to clean your bike after each ride, and that doesn't just mean hosing it down!

First of all, it is important to clean the wheels, the frame and the different components of the bike. By its nature, you will accumulate a lot of dirt in your wheels, so a quick cleaning of them will be essential to the good maintenance of your bike. Thanks to a first shot of warm/hot water and a deep cleaning with a cleaner for the whole bike like the Bike Shampoo, our Ecocert concentrated bike cleaner and a degreaser for the mechanical parts like the Bike Degreaser, you will clean a large part of the dirt accumulated during a ride.

This step is a good time to look at the condition of your tires. Make sure that no glass or sharp rocks are lodged in them. For the tubeless lovers, think of regularly adding anti-puncture liquid. Also remember to check the condition of your brakes (pads or discs), your transmission and your chain. Bike maintenance is not only about cleaning your bike, but also about paying attention to its overall wear and tear. You certainly don't want to find out that one of your parts is damaged when you are tens of kilometers away from home, in the middle of the forest!

After that, you will have to rinse your Gravel thoroughly, then wipe it down so as not to leave any dry water traces and not to expose it to rust. It is very important to re-lubricate the mechanical parts with an adequate lubricant so that everything does not get clogged up between oil, water and mud, sand or dust! Find all our range of lubricants here.

So if you make a habit of regularly protecting and maintaining your bike and its components, you'll be able to enjoy your beloved Gravel for as long as possible!