Surprisingly for us we had a fairly quiet schedule at the weekend (apart from the usual kids taxi runs to athletics, ballet and swimming lessons… oh and a sleep over for one of the youngest boy’s friends). This meant that we could tackle some of those important jobs that you struggle to find time for. DIY (this list never seems to get smaller), gardening (the weeds are waging war on the grass and flower beds), garage clear-out (I’m convinced the boxes are breeding out there), cleaning (better not say anything bad about this in case my wife reads it), ironing (see cleaning)…
So, what should I get started on?
Ah… you guessed it… sorting the bikes had to take priority!
As you can imagine commuting every day on the bike leaves it both filthy and worn out. Spending a good hour or two sorting out those annoying clicks or rattles, cleaning the grease off the chain and cassette and making the frame shine again is well worth the occasional effort. After all, a clean bike looks so much better and everyone knows that it goes much faster when shiny 🙂
I started out with the intention of tackling one bike, maybe getting a second one done if the progress was good.
Bike #1
The first bike I tackled was the summer Boardman bike that I had returned to the road last week after my Easter holidays were finished (Back to Work). This wasn’t actually too dirty as I only used it Mon-Wed when the sun was shining. A quick spray and sponge down with bike cleaner was all the cleaning that was needed.
However, the rear gear changes were so stiff I was scared the cable would snap. That was partly why I stopped using it on Thur. I snipped the end of the cable at the rear mech and pulled the cable out from the lever end. It was quite sticky, but when it appeared there was not actually any wear or frayed strands in it. I gave it a spray with GT-85 and did likewise into the cable outers on the bike. Then by returning the inner cable and pulling it back and fore a few times, it seemed to be moving much more freely.
I think there was just a bit of dirt inside the cables and the spray has cleaned them out for now. Therefore, I re-attached the cable to the rear mech, sorted the gear indexing and gave the bike a final lube and protection spray.
Bike #2
Secondly I moved onto the Giant which had been used on Thursday’s commute. This was a bit more dirty as the journey home had been horribly wet. A few brushes were needed to get into the grease, but I didn’t need to remove the chain or cassette to get it looking nice again.
As I said, the ride home on Thur was really wet and the brakes had been performing poorly. I suspect the pads were just too old and needed replacing (it had been hanging up in my garage for 3 years after all). Finding a new set in my supplies I got the front pads changed. No doubt it won’t be long before I get the chance to test them in the rain again!
Bike #3
Having completed the first 2 bikes in a bit over an hour I decided to carry on. The Vitus bike was next in line. This had been put into action on Fri due to the gears on one bike and brakes on the other. Fri was even wetter than Thur had been…
There was therefore a lot of cleaning needed and it was made worse because I had been using it before my holidays and not had a chance to clean it since. Bike spray, degreaser, brushes, sponges and cloths were all put into action. I even took the cassette off to give it a good polish.
Bike #4
On a bit of a roll now I moved on to the final target, my Focus mountain bike. This was actually looking in quite a sorry state. There were clumps of dried on mud all over it the chain was very rusty and quite a lot of the links were jammed. Lots of bike cleaner and elbow grease got the muck off and attacking the chain with degreaser and a brush managed to get all the links moving freely again. It still looks a bit sad, but seems to be working fine.
I decided to take the cassette off this as well, but no matter how hard I tried the lock ring would not budge. To my shame, I have never bothered to take it off the mountain bike and it must be 8 years old now. I’m just going to need to live with it being attached for good to that wheel now.
Unless anyone can offer me a suggestion to get it off?
Winter tyres were also removed and I managed to hack a bracket for an old child seat off the frame as well. All in all a very successful afternoon!
Reward
Having accomplished so much I thought it was only right that a reward was in order. What better way to treat yourself than by going on a bike ride?
My daughter has been desperate to get on the tag-along again this year so with the mountain bike now rideable again we set out for a spin around town. Anyone who has seen my Instagram account has probably already seen this video, but I think it is too good not to show again…
Does anyone out there enjoy riding as much as her?!!
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Neil Broadhurst
CycleCommute.CC
Neil Broadhurst