In my last post (Double First) I mentioned two things that happened this week. The first of these was wearing shorts on the commute for the first time in 2019. I fully agree that this might not be thrilling for many readers but for myself it was a welcome boost to the commuting endeavours. Thankfully the great weather continued into the middle of the week which has made the cycle commutes simply joyous. Chilly, clear, windless mornings have been beautiful with the return trips all being sunny and warm (for the time of year).
2nd First
Monday was the first time that I put my original road bike into action for nearly 3 years (21st March 2016 being the last time that I rode it). It had more than a few issues that I didn’t deal with at the time. The usual wear and tear of worn out chain and cassette, stuck brake caliper and corroded cables were the least of them unfortunately. The paintwork had started bubbling in a few places (mostly on the down-tube just in front of the rear tyre) and the seat-post was well and truly stuck in place. This meant that I parked it in the garage and left it out of use until now.
Often I would glimpse it in the garage as I was cleaning the other bikes and felt a pang of guilt rush over me. “How can you ignore me like this“, I imagined it calling out.
The bike in question is a Giant TCR 2012 model.
It was the bike that started me off on cycle commuting, and was my constant companion for many a happy hour. It had covered 15,517 miles whilst taking me to and from work 400+ times. Also, I had done several social days out on it as well as a charity ride from Edinburgh to London in 2014.
Having never owned a road bike before, I didn’t realise quite what a good bike this was.
Several times I intended to try and get it back on the road, but time constraints never allowed. However, towards the end of 2018 I made a renewed effort to repair it and put it back in use.
Paintwork
The first thing I checked was the flaking paintwork because if this was caused by a rusting frame, then I would not be able to use it anyway. Tentatively I scraped away the surface paint with a chisel and to my relief found that it was only the paint that was flaking. The frame was in perfect condition.
Pealing off all the bubbles I could find, I then rubbed them down with a fine sandpaper. After this I recruited one of the boys to help me with spray painting the patches that I had removed. I used Spray.Bike and purchased the Blackfriars colour and a transparent coating. It was surprisingly easy to use although does leave a strong smell so best done in a well ventilated area. We did it at night with the garage closed so coughed and spluttered a bit towards the end!
The final result was very acceptable. Looking at it closely you can see it’s obviously been redone, and running your fingers along it feels a little rough compared to how it should. However, for a couple of amateurs spraying in a garage over an old bed sheet it is more than good enough.
Seat-post
The next stage was to get the seat-post removed from the frame as it had turned slightly when I tried moving it previously. The original seatpost was carbon and the frame aluminium. Although in theory these won’t fuse together, there had been gradual corrosion inside the frame which had jammed the seat-post completely stuck. My local bike shop had also tried to remove it with no success. The only thing for it was to get a hack saw and try to cut it out…
The initial cut across the post, about 2cm above the frame, was easy. The remaining cuts to get the rest of the post out were anything but. I had to cut long vertical slices into the the post down the full length in order to try and release it from the frame. This was painstakingly boring work and I spent 10/15 minute sessions over a period of weeks attempting to get it out.
My final winning attempt was to take a large screw driver and hammer it down behind the cuts in the seat-post. I managed to get it down the full length of the post and to my surprise there was not much difficulty in snapping the remainder in half. After removing the slices of post I sanded round the inside of the frame to get rid of any remaining corrosion.
Seat-posts can be surprisingly expensive. I’d seen various models from £70 to £150 which was way beyond what I was willing to pay. Second hand would have been an option or even an aluminium post, but even they were quite expensive. After searching around I found a good looking one on eBay (this one – £14.95) and ordered it hoping it would be decent. It fitted perfectly, looked to be good quality and as a bonus matched the look of the bike as well. Time will tell if it survives, but so far after 140 miles it has been as good as the old one.
I also needed a new seat-post clamp as the bolts in the original had rusted solid. The one in the picture was picked up for £2.69 on eBay (link here).
Components
Replacing the components was easy in comparison. It needed the following new parts:
- Rear mech (Found a spare one in the garage. Easy to install just by screwing in);
- Cassette (New from ebay);
- Chain (New from Planet X);
- Cables (Easy enough to install but slightly more difficult to adjust for smooth gear and brake operation);
- Rear brake caliper (Had to buy this but picked up a bargain for £14.99 at Planet X last year. Also simple to screw in place);
- Bar Tape (Picked up as a real bargain from Halfords for £1 a couple of years ago).
The cassette was purchased from an eBay seller when they had a 20% discount offer on the whole site. It brought the price down from £33 to around £26.
My chainset looks a little worn on the big ring but it engages fine with the new chain so I will leave it for now.
Results
I finally got the bike ready last weekend and excitedly took it out for a test ride to check that nothing was broken or likely to fall off. It was perfect and rode even better than I ever remembered it. Perhaps the sunshine helped, or having everything new, but it rode like a dream and I’m sure you’ll agree from the pictures below it looks amazing as well!
At the time of writing it has now covered a fresh 140 miles and is going strong. There’s a bit of a creak in the headset bearings (I think), and the large chain ring might not last beyond this chain, but other than that it’s as good as new.
Leaving it abandoned for 3 years leaves me feeling a bit guilty now. Just as in life we can easily forget the things that we love and are important to us. It reminds me we need to make sure to show our appreciation on a regular basis and not take them for granted. Whether it is loved ones, partners, friends or even your job it’s vitally important not to let them sit on the sidelines feeling not wanted.
I’m looking forward to many more happy hours on the Giant, as well as the other bikes in the garage!
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- Remembering - June 23, 2023
- School Run Fun - June 19, 2023
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