Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Overhauling My Commuter Bike

I have a serious confession to make: I suck at bike maintenance.  I have had my Panasonic DX 2000 for nearly two years now and I have not done one bit of maintenance on it except for washing it down a few times, mending flat tires, and replacing and maintaining a chain.

At first I really did not care about bike maintenance.  All I really needed to know is that my bike was getting me to and from work.  As long as it could do that, I was happy.

Things are different now.  The more I read about bicycles the more I realize that if I take care of my bike it will take care of me.  A well maintained bike will ride faster and last longer than a poorly maintained one, and I am all about things going fast and lasting a long time.

As a result, I have decided to overhaul my entire bike.  I don't plan to do it all at once, especially since I don't really know what I am doing just yet.  I also don't want to spend a really long time working on my bike since my weekends are so precious to me and I want to be able to still use my bike for the daily commute.

Here is my current plan of for working on the bike:
  1. Overhaul the bottom bracket - I have a lot of wiggle here and I often hear a distinct knocking when my right leg strokes the pedal downward.  This is not good and is something I should probably take care of right away.
  2. Clean up my chain, free wheel, cogs, and derailleur - the drive train of my bike is filthy right now and I have even let my chain get rusty.  I am sure I have lost a lot of efficiency because of my laziness and this needs to change.
  3. Overhaul the front and back hubs - I am also starting to hear a rubbing sound on my back tire that might be from some play in the rear hub, either that or my frame is bent or a spoke is loose.  Even if the hubs are not the problem ehre they need to be overhauled anyway.
  4. Make sure my tires, rims, and spokes are good - This should be semi-simple, but we shall see.
  5. Check break and shifting lines.
  6. Misc adjustment and maintenance.
I plan on doing it all myself if I can handle it and buying or borrowing the tools that I might need to get the job done.  I prefer the buy so that I can not only fix my bike but also the bikes of my children in the future.  Heck, if I like it enough and get good enough I could always start up a Craiglist business of buying cheap, beat up bikes and "flipping" them for some sort of profit.  That could be pretty fun.

Either way, the goal is to get my bike in top shape for my commuting and learn a little bit more about how to be a wise bike commuter.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks. great blog. Will it be updated soon?

    ReplyDelete