Last fall, Tammy gifted me a two-day bike maintenance course through Bow Cycle. Today was the first day, and tomorrow is day two. It was supposed to run from 10-5 each day, but I am the only one signed up for it. So it’s just the instructor, Nathaniel, and me. One on one VIP treatment. So we were done for today by 12:30.
What it entails is stripping the bike down, cleaning every part, replacing what’s worn out, and then putting it all back together. Here’s my bike, after I have put the fork and rear derailleur back on:
Of course, I take care of my bike, so I’m not really rehabilitating it. More like restoring it to showroom condition. It’s really cool. I even took the wheel hubs apart, cleaned them and re-packed the bearings.
Tomorrow will be another short day. We need to reassemble stuff of course, but we’ll also be tearing down the cables and cleaning and lubricating them.
Updated
The course is over now, and my bike is back in perfect shape. I’d say back to showroom condition, but that’s probably an understatement: between the factory and its unboxing back in 2013, it had never received such meticulous attention.
Between yesterday and today, I have replaced the chain, the rear sprockets, all cables and cable tubing and the bar tape. Everything else is cleaned, lubricated and adjusted to perfection. We even trued the wheels this morning.
