Whether you're dusting off your bike after a hiatus or you've been riding hard throughout the winter, it's a good idea to bring it to your local bike shop for a spring tune-up (the experts at Recycle-A-Bicycle in Clinton Hill will be happy to help you out!). Think of these visits as preventative maintenance, just like your annual health check-ups! Regular tune-ups once or twice a year can help your bike and its components last longer and catch minor issues before they become more significant problems.
We have a little more than a month of winter left, and winter—with snow, slush, salt, sand, and the decaying residue of last fall's leaves, can be hard on a bike's appearance.
As I think about the types of crashes I've experienced over a few decades of almost daily cycling, most of them involved some slick or loose surface on the street or bike path, and nearly all of those situations involved turns at intersections or curves. Here are some tips for staying upright through the winter (I learned the hard way through occasional unplanned trips to the ground!):
