Winter tire, tube and brake maintenance

Some tips and advice from Ian Franklin:

TYRES/TUBES
No one gets punctures deliberately but It's not much fun for everyone standing around in the cold or rain while it gets mended. With increased rain washing debris onto the road the risk of punctures increases. Take a little time to go round your tyres after each ride and dig out flints etc with a fine point. Sometimes a deep gash happens - Park tools do an emergency tyre boot - 3 for £5.00 - which gets you home and invariably saves scrapping the tyre. The boot is designed for MTB tyres but can be cut in half for a road tyre. Should you have a second flat on the ride self adhesive patches are now available which are quicker than the glue type.
Spare inner tubes. With deeper section rims becoming more common make sure the valve is long enough. A short (32mm) valve often doesn't allow you to connect a pump or CO2 cartidge correctly on a lot of rims. Carry a 60mm valved tube and you can cope with everything. If you are on a MTB check the valve type, you can get away with a presta valve on a schrader (car) valve rim but not the other way round.
You can repair tubes at home. But often there is a second hole which gets missed. Once repaired put it in a spare tyre/rim, pump it up and check it stays up for a couple of days. You then know you have a good spare.
CO2 cartridges are pricey but pump the tyre up to 100 psi plus in no time minimising hanging around............ but carry a small pump as back up

BRAKES
Blocks/Rims Inspect your rims and brake blocks regularly. Grit and aluminium gets embedded in the soft rubber and can destroy a rim quite quickly. Remove the wheels and using a fine point dig the foreign bodies out. Keep an eye on the rim braking surface, if it is starting to go hollow/convex ask your bike shop if it is safe to use. Thin rims get weak and increase the risk of the tyre pressure literally blowing the rim apart with disasterous consequences.
Calipers Without mudguards calipers receive a lot of road crap, grit, salt etc. Look carefully at the caliper and you will see it comprises three sections. Starting from the frame side, look carefully between the first and second sections. You may be able to see a thin washer, this carries about 10 pin head sized bearings. It's quite common for this to seize up. Push some rag under the brake, drop some oil on the washer and operate the brake a few times. This should help keep it working smoothly. Sometimes it's better to remove the wheel and push and pull the brakes in and out until they open up fully without any assistance.