When you get a brand new bike, it’s one of the best feelings in the world. It runs like a dream, seamlessly carrying you down the road. And then as the months and years carry on, the bike begins dragging. What’s going on? You’ve scoured everything from dual-sport bike reviews to bike manuals, and yet nothing has turned up. If you are worrying that something may be causing your bike to slow down, here are the top 3 causes that may be behind it.
Dragging Tires
Think of tires as the shoes for your bike. They protect the sensitive material underneath and make the act of riding a much cozier experience. So if your bike has started lagging behind what you’re used to it being able to accomplish, you just may have your tires to blame for this one. Many things can be wrong with your tires, from a lack of air, to punctures in the tires that have caused it to actively leak out air. Or you may just have the wrong type of tire for the bike you’re riding or for the road you’re riding on. Any number of things can be wrong with your tires.
Bad Setup
Have you found your bike to not be driving as well as it should be? Is it actively hurting your hips and back to be riding on it? This has no doubt affected your performance on the bike, which may be the cause of your sudden trend of slowing down for no apparent reason. The setup of your seat on the bike is just as important as the maintenance and air pressure of the bike itself. Your setup affects your posture and how the bike seat supports your body and weight as you ride. This is not only important for your speed and performance, but also your health, for obvious reasons, as a bad posture for too long too many times can be a serious detriment to the development of your bones.
Stubborn Gears
Gears have a nasty tendency to let you know that there’s something wrong by seizing up when you would very much prefer they didn’t. Whether it’s because you’re biking up a steep hill, or across a road, your gears will suddenly not click down when you need them too. This could be caused by a number of reasons. It could be as simple as your gears needing a run of the mill indexing, or it could be something more costly. Either way, you should take it to someone who know what they’re looking for as soon as possible, because something is clearly wrong if this is happening to you.
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