Therapy
There’s something therapeutic about bike maintenance on a rainy Sunday afternoon. It’s peaceful and quiet down in the garage (The closest thing I’ve got to a man-cave!) You can let your mind wander as your hands automatically perform tasks that have been done over and over. With no pre-conceived notions of exactly what you’re going to accomplish when you begin, everything that gets cleaned, lubed and adjusted is bonus!
By the time I finished an hour and a half later, the Surly was looking halfway decent once again. It got:
- Washed down with Pledge.
- Chain cleaned and lubed (and noted it was time to be replaced).
- Cassette cleaned.
- Derailleur adjusted.
- Rear brake adjusted.
- Rear wheel wiped clean.
- Temporary tires replaced with new PanaRacer T-Serv Protex tires.
When I was done, I looked at the tandem, thinking it really needed the same things. That got left for another day!
God bless…
TW
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April 18, 2012 at 6:26 pm
The therapy value depends much on how “mandatory and immediate” the maintenance is. At least IMO. More of each of the latter equals less of the former.
April 20, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Tracy. How do you like the Panaracer Tires for the tandem? I am looking around for some different 25 tires for our tandem. The Specialized that I use seem to pick up alot of little stones from the road and they seem to wear our quickly in warm weather. I used to use IRC Tandem tires but they don’t exist anymore.
Don
April 20, 2012 at 12:58 pm
Don, That’s a darn good question! Pam’s had some bursitis problems in her knee this spring, so we’ve only had the tandem out for one short spin. Those tires are still sitting in my garage waiting to be mounted. I can say, however, that I managed to put over 4k miles on the Panaracer’s on my commuter with only one flat (on the rear) before I wore the rear down to the belts. Our tire of choice for the tandem has consistently been Continental Gatorskin 25′s, so this is truly a grand experiment – changing tires as well as moving up to 28′s. We’ll see how it goes! Decided not to do the Wisconsin trip this year. I made it into Ride the Rockies, and we’re planning nearly two weeks in NYC this fall, so we had to conserve somewhere…. Take care… TW
Tracy & Pam Wilkins tracywilkins@sbcglobal.net Springfield, MO http://www.springfieldcyclist.com