Morning Maintenance Quickie: Pedals

Hey!  It's me, Blu Bike, here to ask you an honest question... when was the last time you serviced your pedals?  I doubt your local wrench does anything but check they're still attached to your bike at your annual maintenance check up at your LBS, and I'm guessing you just assume they are fine- right?  But yet you'll buy gadgets and stuff to try to make your bike faster or more efficient.  A thorough pedal check-up takes only about 5 minutes per pedal, so let's talk about it real quick... (keep in mind that your pedals might be a little different, but the concepts are all the same- check your model's tech sheet).

First: we need to take it off the bike.  Don't forget that they thread in relation to the pedaling motion, so one is left threaded.

Dirty Pedal!

Next: take the end cap off, and remove the axle end bolt.  Some older pedals might have loose bearings at next- most modern pedals will be using sealed bearings.  But still be careful not to loose anything important.

Note that some pedals use a special tool from the other end of the axle in this process.

 Tired and dirty grease.  Blech.  No way that is efficient...

Now: Clean all that nasty grease off inside and out (pipe cleaners or cotton swabs are really handy here...) and give everything a good going over with some degreaser.  Same with the pedal body.  Use a brush and degreaser on all the exterior surfaces to get everything clean.  Then rinse everything and dry (compressed air is handy here if you have it).

Important note: Don't do too much dis-assembly to the pedal body!  There are springs in there that have a LOT of tension on them and would be very difficult to put it all back to together correctly.  The brush & cleaner will get it clean...

Last: Apply fresh grease liberally to the axle and re-install it.  Make sure to grease threads on everything to ease future removal.  Lubricate moving parts on the pedal body.  Lubricate the contact surface to the cleat.

Clean, happy, and ready for grease and re-assembly!

And put it back on!  Not hard, right?  Or if it is too difficult or time consuming, have your LBS wrench do it.  I guarantee both you and your bike will be happier for it!
If you find something that looks broken or seriously worn- get it checked out.  It could be a serious safety issue.

How often to do this, you ask?  How about we say once per season for most bikes?  Twice, if you are racking up serious (2500 miles or more) mileage.  So 10 or 20 minutes per year.

And more happy bikes!

Cool!

Full Maintenance and More Commuting Discussion

Hi Again!  It's me, Blackie Bike, here.  Boy do I have a lot to talk about today- so let's get right to it.
First thing- a quick update on our last post and that nasty cut I had on my back tire.  Buttercup used the SuperGlue trick on the cut and it healed right up!  The extra glue on the surface will wear off with time- no biggie.

If you aren't familiar with the process, here's what he did:

• Do a quick wipe down of the tire with a damp rag and inspect it- that way you're sure you've found all the cuts.  Clean any debris out of the tire.
• Over inflate the tire by about 5-8 lbs.  This will spread the cut or hole opening up a little bit extra.
• Clean with a little rubbing alcohol.  This gets any grease cleaned out- it also will displace any water that's left and it will dry quicker.  Wait until cuts are dry.
• Squirt just enough SuperGlue into the cut to coat the whole thing well.
• Deflate the tire completely- no need to clean off excess glue (and risk gluing your fingers together) since it will wear off when you ride!  Leave at least overnight to set up is best.

That's it!  Done.  The excess glue will wear off in time and it will probably be just fine.  If it opens back up, it might just be too bad to fix- but as expensive as tires are, you might as well try.  Right?

I'm doing a charity ride this weekend with Buttercup.  It's a super fun one and it's for a good cause: The Ride to End Hunger in Calvert County.  It's always really well organized and fun and helps out the community!  BC is even giving up going sailboat racing for this one.  Good thing- us bikes hate having to compete for his time with those dumb boats.

To get me ready for the ride and a lot of training for May and June, Buttercup is going to give me a complete overhaul over the next day or two.  I'll make sure he takes pictures- you can see me in pieces!  I saw a new set of handlebars come in the mail, so I think I may be trying them out for him.  Updates a-plenty!  But you might be hearing from Blue Bike if I'm in too many pieces to type... 

Next discussion: Bike Commuting.  Since it's still that whole Earth Day thing, and gas prices are still crazy, and May is going to be some sort of "Bike to Wherever" month- let's keep up the discussion about bike commuting!

First, the trailer that Buttercup ordered (shown in This Post) arrived yesterday from www.mayacycle.com.  The ordering process was ok, their status updates on the order were bad, but it arrived in a timely fashion.  So overall- an ok purchase so far.  I'm sure BC will have pictures and we can talk about it more once it's up and running... But hopefully it will have him riding all of us more, and using the car less!

And then, what a Cool Article from the U.K. about a guy with a coffee shop who is also providing bicycle parking for commuters!  What a cool idea for peeps who don't have a parking option at work-- and they can get a cup of Joe!  

Last thing- a while back I had posted the front of that really bright and loud jersey that BC had worn one day...  here it is again:

And I had mentioned that it got even gaudier on the back of it, right?

Check this out *snicker*:

One thing is sure- nobody is going to miss us in THAT!!

All right- I'll talk at you later!  Until then, Get on your Bikes and RIDE!!!!

New Training Route!

Hey!  Blackie Bike here!  So Buttercup and I took advantage of the nice weather on Saturday and went and did some more exploring on some roads up a little further north than we usually ride.  Perfect!

If you add that to some of the stuff we were exploring last week, we've got training rides a-plenty as we continue to get ready for the Total200 ride.  I felt kinda sorry for Buttercup on Saturday, though.  I got the impression his legs were feeling pretty tired afterwards- but that's perfect, right?  He needs those bad boys to be doing some hurtin' so he's strong enough to get me to the finish line!  Can't wear that jersey you ordered if we don't friggin' finish!  C'mon you pansy, push it!

Oh- and we ordered that trailer we showed in the picture last week in the post about being Greener (is that the right word? Greener? oh well...) but it seems like the company is one of those that is a little on the slow side about shipping stuff.  *Sigh*
BC and Ingolstadt went to the grocery store last week- and the poor old guy woke up with a flat yesterday.  First one of those he's had since last year when Buttercup got him the T-Serve Protex tires.  That's on the maintenance schedule for this week.  I think BC's going to get him those SLIME tubes like he got for Blu Bike...  Oh, and I got a nasty cut on my back tire we've been using for training.  He set a new tube of SuperGlue on my saddle yesterday- so I'm guessing he's going to see if it will patch up and last a while longer.  You can see it just above the "Kenda" there where it's got some threads showing...

Nice thing about being shod with a durable tire is that they hold up well, not exactly a "supple" road feel- but far better than stopping to fix a flat!

It's hard to tell if the weather is going to clear up today- if so, maybe Blu Bike and BC will go out for a ride. I prefer not to take my pretty little self out when it's all wet and icky...