Bike Maintenance N'at

On my last ride I noticed my rear derailleur was hard to shift. It’s probably time for some maintenance, so I made a pit stop on my why home last night at West Liberty Cycles (WLC). The shop looks great and was pretty busy. WLC is one of my favorite shops. Don’t get me wrong there are other great shops like Dirty Harrys, but I’ve been a long time customer of WLC. I needed some basic supplies, shift cables, housing, ferrules, organic Juicy 7 brake pads, etc…

I could probably just pull the cable out squirt some cleaner in the housing and put it back together, but I figured it’s been a while since they’ve been replaced. It is pretty inexpensive to do. Learning how to tune your shifters is a skill everyone should know. It’s as important as fixing a flat tire, as both can ruin a ride quickly.

The late Sheldon Brown has one of best guides here.

It looks like a great weekend to work on the bike vs. riding and for me more painting of the house too. Wrenching on your own bike can be a little scary at first. I started by assembling a separate bike tool box with some basic tools, then I bought tools that I needed here and there. I still don’t have everything, but I have enough for most stuff. Lora gave me a nice repair stand which makes working on the bike pretty nice. I also try to keep old parts, even if I just strip them down and keep the screws, which has saved me more than once.

Peace…