Sunday, February 17, 2008

Maintenance Time

I've been putting it off for weeks now, but can put it off no more. Hubs and cables and a general overall cleanup, times 3 bikes. Or maybe just the Trek and the Gitane. The old MTB may or may not be worth the effort. It could be an adequate errands bike - will see how it goes.

Did the front hub of the Trek today, cleaned up the wheel, and tightened a loose spoke, so that's done. Then I got the rear hub disassembled, and ran out of motivation. Rather than get sloppy, I put it aside for later. Just cleanup and replacement cables after that - the bottom bracket is sealed.

The Gitane will need both hubs overhauled and new cables as well - it's been many years since those were replaced. Then, clean it up and touch up some paint scrapes, and it should be good enough.

The MTB could benefit from the same, hubs and cables, but I'll have to see how far I get. The chain is pretty cruddy, and the brakes are mediocre, so those items are also on the list. A seatpost rack would be a useful accessory for that one, if I intend to carry anything with any regularity.

Plenty of time for this, now that I'm retired. And plenty left of this especially rotten winter.