Maintenance day
Cleaned off the wheel and found that a couple of spokes on the rear wheel had worked loose, so I dropped it out and tensioned the whole wheel uniformly then trued it. Then I noticed it wasn't spinning too well, so I disassembled the hub and cleaned it out, and while I was at it I flushed it out with oil then repacked the bearings. The grease in one side of the hub had coagulated, and the other side had let in a load of dirt, so it was due for an overhaul anyway. While I was at it I replaced the bearings in the front wheel as well, now that's spinning pretty smoothly - or as well as wheels with big heavy snow tyres will spin. It was also time to change the chain, so I did that too. Some of the cables were starting to get a bit squeaky so I ran oil over all the exposed cables.
Next thing to change is going to be the brake pads on the rear, I'll have to pick some more up from MEC as it looks like I used up my last set without replacing them.
Next thing to change is going to be the brake pads on the rear, I'll have to pick some more up from MEC as it looks like I used up my last set without replacing them.
posted by steve at 1/07/2007 02:32:00 pm
3 Comments:
Hey Steve,
I am reading your blog through google reader these days, so I don't know if my stats are showing up..
Anyways. I keep thinking about how much maint you do on your bike. Currently I my rear wheel is sitting in the basement for the 'winter' waiting to be rebuilt with TN spokes for my large frame. If I was not waiting for this, I would probably been riding yesterday.
My point is it seems like there continues to be way to much maintenance. I know you enjoy it, but I prefer not to do not as much. Now, in no-way do I ride as many miles as you, but the frequency still seems to be really high!!
On a different note. My wifes family bought me an eTrex Legend for xmas. Woot! I love geocaching! Thats alot of fun. I was thinking about creating a cycling themed cache to support the MS Bike Tour 2007. Any thoughts on what I should put in it?
-Doug
Arg! Preview! preview!
Well, the maintenance I did over the weekend was, to a certain extent, self inflicted. The front wheel needed new bearings because I picked up a cheapo $20 replacement wheel that had sludge rather than grease, and totally rusted bearings. The rear wheel was new when I got the bike a couple of months ago and I never re-trued it after working it in, and the manufacturer didn't use particularly good grease on the bearings.
On top of all this, I put quite a bit of stress on the components. The bike is running at around 55lbs, and then I carry more stuff on top of that - for example, on Saturday I was carrying about 25lbs of groceries home. Carrying that sort of weight (especially up the hills we have in Halifax) grinds all sorts of wear onto the bike.
Geocaching is indeed fun - I had a lot of fun going out with the sprogette in the summer! We aren't particularly good at it, but the side benefits (gorging ourselves on the fresh blueberries, for example) more than made up for it. Adding the traces to OpenStreetMap is a nice way to keep track of where I've been, too - that's something else fun I've got into.
The only thing I can think of to put in a cache would be a bracelet made from part of a worn-out (and cleaned!) chain - I saw quite a few people with them last year. Oh, and I suppose a few spoke nipples, just for "what the hell are they?!" value.
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