Racing is hard on bicycles. Particularly off-road racing.
There were nights before big mountain bike races when a teenaged me would pull all the pulleys off my derailleur, carefully clean them with a toothbrush, regrease, then reinstall. I’d flick them when finished and smile at the watts I’d maybe saved, though I had no power meter to measure them, then move on to replacing a shift cable, because we had cables, and I grew up in muddy Vermont where they needed replacing every few weeks. My dad would tell me not to work on my bike the night before a race but I was 15, so I ignored him.
These days, I’m the one telling teenagers to get their gear in order weeks, not nights, away from their races. Some of them even listen, very occasionally. The group I coach has their first cross country race in just under a week, the Cactus Cup, Northeast of Phoenix, Arizona. As the window for ordering new parts and getting them installed before that race slowly closed, I sent an email to the team reminding them of this fact, along with a list of things to check on their own bikes before it’s too late. It was very much a do-as-I-say, not-as-I-did kind of email.
After a bit of back and forth with Dave Rome, we decided that the email, lightly edited with some add-ons for gravel racing, would make a handy story. It’s a pre-event checklist but also just a beginning-of-the-season checklist, suitable for any bike that's going to see dirt. I’ve added some other bits I’ve picked up in 20-something years of cross-country and gravel racing, too. I’m sure there’s plenty I’ve forgotten, which is why we have a comments section.
If you’re a pro mechanic, you don’t need this, and you may instead want riders to read this. But if you’re not, and you’re sitting there with a gravel or mountain bike event in a few weeks wondering whether your gear is ready to go, I hope it’s helpful.
A mechanical checklist before your first race day (or just riding trip away):
Brakes are helpful for stopping
✅ Do your brakes need a bleed? Is one lever pulling farther than the other? Does the lever feel squishy? Does the lever feel change with heat or after transporting your bike? It shouldn’t.
✅ Pads. How much brake pad is left? Winter does a number on pads. Peek in there and check.
✅ Do your brakes squeal like a banshee or prevent you from locking a wheel? Something is wrong. Most likely, the pads (and possibly the rotors) are contaminated. You need new pads, rotors may need to be replaced, too.
Jumping gears steal your power
✅ If you have mechanical shifting, when was the last time you replaced cables and/or housing? If the thumb shifter (push to a larger cog) is hard to push, you probably need new cables at the very least. This is one of those things that degrades over time so you may not notice.
✅ If shifting to a smaller cog (harder gear) is sluggish, or shifts are inconsistent, then you probably also need new cables.
✅ Do you have intermittent issues with wireless shifting? Head to a shop. Intermittent is a bad word in the middle of a race.
✅ Replace your AXS shifter batteries. They are little coin cells like a watch. If you do this now, you’re likely good to go for the whole season.
✅ Check your chain for wear (using a chain checker). If you replace the chain, be sure to test it before your event, including with some high-power sprints. Sometimes a new chain won’t work with an old, worn cassette. You'll notice it jumping under load.
✅ Check cassette for wear. The teeth shouldn’t look like curved shark fins. If you let the chain get too worn, it may have taken the cassette down with it. Replace both. You’ll also likely need a new chainring (especially if it’s a MTB) if this is the case.
✅ Check and fix derailleur hanger alignment. This is a common issue. If your shifting is generally pretty good but skips or makes noise in one or two gears, that's a good indication that hanger alignment is off.
Smooth suspension is fast
This is more relevant to XC than gravel, obviously.
✅ Good, tuned suspension makes you faster immediately.
✅ Inspect your fork and rear shock. Is there oil coming out? Are there any weird suction-like noises? If yes, you've likely ignored the suggested service intervals and it's past time that you swing by a shop for inspection.
✅ Get oil + seals done with a shop. Suspension brands recommend having this done every 50 hours of riding as preventative maintenance (ha ha nobody does this except maybe Dave Rome). You should do this once per season, at least. When you do it, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it earlier, it makes a MASSIVE difference in control/descending speed/traction.
✅ Spend some time on suspension setup, getting correct sag and tuning compression and rebound damping. You can find setup guides on the web site for your fork and shock manufacturer.
Wheels must be round
✅ How are your tires? Is the tread in decent condition? Any areas with cuts, bubbles, or fraying on the sidewall? Replace them if they’re haggard.
✅ Put new tubeless sealant in if not done within the past couple of months. Scrape out the old latex boogers from within the tire if you can.
✅ Clean valve cores (pull them out and get the solidified latex from sealant off of them)
✅ If you’re replacing tires, inspect rim tape for any areas that may have cuts or are peeling back. Old rim tape is often the source of leaks.
✅ Consider adding a rear tire insert. Get a light XC insert like THESE. These allow lower pressures (more traction, faster) and help prevent pinch flats. They also support thin XC and gravel tires in hard corners. Very minimal weight penalty for much more speed – a good tradeoff. I weigh 150 and run 17 psi front/19 rear (in 2.3-2.4" tires) most of the time. Inserts make that possible. (Note that this is primarily a suggestion based on the very rocky, sharp trails we have in the Southwest US. Your trail surfaces may not require them.)
✅ Check your hubs for any play (side to side movement). When you spin the wheel, does it make any rumbling or similar rough feeling that can be felt through the fork/frame? Bearings need attention if so.
✅ Make sure your rims are true. Spin the wheel, look for wobbles. Grab your spokes in pairs and squeeze. Are any loose? If so, off to the shop.
✅ Check carbon rims for cracks and aluminum rims for dents.
Frame + cockpit
✅ Check for loose suspension pivots. Drop the back end of the bike: any knocking sounds? Grab the rear wheel and pull it back and forth, is there any movement where there shouldn't be? Any creaking when doing this?
✅ Check frames for cracks/deep scratches.
✅ Check bars for cracks/deep scratches/cuts. Do not ride if you find any.
Get your race repair kit together
✅ One CO2 + inflator head
✅ One set of tire plugs. I like the Racer model from Dynaplug. If you don’t know how to use these, ask a coach or mechanic. Consider grabbing an old tire to practice on before race day.
✅ One TPU tube. Optional, these fold up real small and are to be used as a last resort. If you have fresh sealant in your tires and plugs, that’ll fix 95% of flats.
✅ One tiny tool with a chain breaker. Optional, but I like to have it for longer laps like Cactus Cup where you’re quite far away from home base at times. I like the Lezyne SV Pro 10 but there are lots of good options.
Last but not least
✅ Finally, do a general bolt check. Chainring bolts, derailleur hanger bolts, stem bolts, the lot. Stick an Allen key in everything and make sure it’s tight. Where carbon or lightweight aluminium is involved, it's best to do this with a torque wrench.
Remember, a quiet bike is a fast bike.
Did we do a good job with this story?
