Poor or no maintenance of your Babboe cargo bike will result in faster wear and a deteriorated riding experience. It can also result in increased cost of repairs. Please note that wear and tear is not included in the warranty of Babboe cargo bikes.  This maintenance section was designed to help you with maintenance tips, explanation of the compulsory three month check up, instructions on brakes and gears and mobile cycle mechanic details. 

Helpful Tips

Below you will find useful tips to help you keep your Babboe cargo bike in great condition for years to come.  To help you with this we also sell on our website a Maintenance Kit and a Bicycle Pump with a woods valve that you can use to maintain your Babboe cargo bike. 

To keep wear and tear to a minimum we have a number of helpful tips for you.

Spokes

If the spokes are too loose, they will wear faster which can result in the spokes breaking. Especially when your Babboe cargo bike is still new, we advise you to regularly check whether the spokes are tight. If spokes become loose, the bicycle will feel heavier and unstable during use.

Cables

Cables will stretch during regular use of the bike. We advise you to regularly readjust and lubricate the cables to optimize their effectiveness. You should preferably lubricate your brake cables before the weather becomes too cold and starts freezing.  This will prevent the inner cable from freezing to the outer cable, which will reduce the effectiveness of the cables.

Adjusting the brakes and gears

Adjusting the brakes can easily be done yourself using the adjusting bolts of the disc brakes. To adjust the rear brake, turn the adjusting bolt away from the brake hub. By doing this, you increase the pressure on the brake cable. The parking brake is linked to the front brakes.  To improve the effectiveness of the parking brake you should tighten both front brakes. You can do this by turning the adjusting bolts away from the brake hub. Make sure to adjust both front brakes equally. You can adjust the gears by turning the end of the brake cable which is attached to the handle bars. To adjust the highest gear you should tighten the adjusting bolt, by the wheel, and to adjust the lowest gear you should loosen the adjusting bolt.

Lubricating the chain

You should maintain your bike chain by using a chain lubricant which is included in the Babboe Maintenance Kit. Slowly turn the crank (just turn the bike pedal) backwards while lubricating the chain. When using lubricant, you should drip it onto the chain one link at a time. When you have lubricated the chain, turn the crank forwards and backwards to ensure that the lubricant is well spread out over the chain. Then use a dry piece of cloth to remove excess lubricant from the chain. The lubricant should be on the inside of the chain, not on the outside.

Tires

You should carefully monitor the air pressure of your tires. By regularly inflating the tires, the bicycle will continue to feel light when riding and the tires will last longer. The correct tire pressure for the Babboe is 4.2 bar or 65 PSI.  The tires can be inflated using a bicycle pump with a woods valve adaptor. As this type of pump can be difficult to purchase in the UK, we sell the exact Pump that you need on the Babboe website.

Rust spots

Should you, despite precautions, find any rust spots on the Babboe cargo bike then we advise you to immediately apply a silicone spray to the spot. This will avoid further rusting of the Babboe cargo bike.

Damaged paint

To prevent your Babboe cargo bike rusting due to damaged paint, we advise you to treat any damaged spots with touch up paint in the right colour. An example is MOTIP BLACK PAINT MARKER, which is included in the Babboe Maintenance Kit.

Regular Maintenance – We recommend that you have a bike mechanic carry out a yearly check up on you Babboe cargo bike to ensure that it stays in top condition.

Three Month Check Up

After three months your Babboe cargo bike requires a maintenance check up. This is also a warranty condition. During this check up the following should be carried out:

-Re-adjustment of the brakes
-Re-adjustment of the gears
-Re-adjustment of the chain
-Lubrication of all moving parts

-A check of the spokes and crank (which can loosen after first use)

The mobile cycle mechanics listed on our website or your local bike repair shop can perform this service for you.

A receipt from the mobile cycle mechanic or your local bike repair shop explaining that the above service was carried out is proof of this 3 month check up and is what you will need to make a warranty claim.

Regular Maintenance – We recommend that you have a bike mechanic carry out a yearly check up on you Babboe to ensure that it stays in top condition. 

Mobile Cycle Mechanics

Please contact us at valery.mdk@gmail.com to get a list of our mobile cycle mechanics for the following:

Questions relating assembly, repairs, bike checkups and maintenance.