Garmin has added new functionality to its Edge cycling computers, which enables you to track how far youve ridden on your individual drivetrain components, tyres and more. Keeping on top of your maintenance is important to ensure youre not grinding your way through components, subjecting them to excessive wear and running yourself up an expensive maintenance bill next time your bike needs servicing. The update to the Garmin Edge range enables you to add individual component items to each of your bike setups. For example, your Road Bike profile could include the chain, cassette, chainrings and tyres. You could also, for example, just set up a drivetrain category if you didnt want to go down to individual component level. The gear tracker keeps tabs on how far you've ridden with each component on each of your bikes. Many bike components have a limited lifespan before they need replacing. Chains, in particular, stretch with use, and start to eat into the teeth on your cassette and ultimately your chainrings, so changing your chain regularly should reduce the frequency with which you need to replace the cassette. Chains are relatively inexpensive, but modern cassettes with 12 or more speeds are often much pricier. Although a chain checker is a cheap tool that's easy to use, many cyclists dont own one. A chain checker is a simple and cheap tool, but many cyclists don't own one. David Rome / Immediate Media With the new Edge functionality, you can set up a lifespan for each component. Each time you head out on a ride and record it with the cycling computer, it will track your ride length and add it to the total distance covered using each of the individual components. The cycling computer then provides a screen with progress bars and alerts you when each component is nearing its theoretical maximum lifespan. Garmin's new functionality might be handy to remind you to charge up your electronic groupset's batteries. Andy Lloyd / Ourmedia We reckon it's also potentially useful for riders of bikes with electronic shifting who, like us, forget to keep their batteries charged up and sometimes end up mid-ride on a singlespeed. The new functionality is part of a suite of updates to Garmins cycling computers and smartwatches, which can be downloaded via the Garmin Express computer app or Garmin Connect phone app. You may like Garmin Edge 850 vs Wahoo Elemnt Roam 3: my head-to-head test shows you don't need the most expensive bike tech Garmin's Varia RearVue 820 is by far the best radar light you can buy, but you'll need a recent Garmin GPS to get the best out of it