Bike Maintenance

It is a significant day for bike maintenance today.

The easy part was washing and de-greasing and lubing the Kona.  While doing that I discovered that the bottom bracket is either failing or is in need of some maintenance.  It offers some resistance multiple places around the pedal stroke.  I’ll get that in next week.

The Origin8 (fixie) went in to the Bike Doctor.  It needs new sealed bearing headset, new sealed bearing bottom bracket, and the wheel hubs need to be fixed.  There is a lot of play in them, I discovered as I took the bike in.  It will be Thursday before I pick it up and should be as good as new … well, it needs new brake pads too, but I’ll do that once I get it back.

I’ve really improved my ability to do chain maintenance on the Kona.  Here are my steps.

1. Use a biodegradable de-greaser on the chain, cassette, rings, and jockey wheels.
2. Use a brush to loosen the old lubricating material.
3. Use the chain cleaning tool for better cleaning.
4. Use a bike wash solvent on the frame, and a paper towel or soft brush to eliminate crud.
5. Gently use the hose to wash down/rinse all the components with water.  The combination of de-greaser and water works great!
6. Allow the bike to air dry.
7. Re-lube the drive chain.

This system saves me at least 30-60 minutes over the old rag in between the cogs to get all the old junk out.