new life into the commuter ride
In 2001, I bought a bike that would change my life. Since then, I've put around 25,000 miles on it, none of them easy. The original pedals had been rebuilt twice and the left one was shot. I kept popping out at the most inopportune moments, like when the light would turn green and I would pin it. Not good.
I had a set of pedals on the cannondale william francis the younger gave me that hadn't seen nearly as much use. So I thought I'd do a switcheroo. Bought some flat pedals for the oldest cannondale and put the barely used clipless pedals on the slightly newer, but much more used cannondale.
After six years of riding in the salt, snow, rain, and muck the old pedals didn't want to come off. I grabbed a torch and heated them up until they were smoking hot and then they reluctantly gave in to my desires.
Busted out the scrub brush, gave the old cannondale a thorough commuter cleaning, and now it's running just fine. Keep in mind this is a commuter bike cleaning, not some high end, fancy ass cleaning.
A guy like Bryan Sweeney cleans his sweet road bike with Q tips and pipe cleaners. It takes the better part of two days to get the job done. When you clean a man's bike,like a commuter bike, you can do it in fifteen minutes. You just get out your hose, your scrub brush, and a bucket, and you have at it.
Bicycling magazine informs us that he most wretched repair is the seized seat post. So I pulled all of my seat posts, lubed them, and returned them to their frames. The stable of bicycles has a pretty good patina to them. Three of the four have been ridden hard and put away wet on more than one occasion. Some are my worn than others. But at the moment, they're all running well and each has a purpose for which it is ideally suited.
I had a set of pedals on the cannondale william francis the younger gave me that hadn't seen nearly as much use. So I thought I'd do a switcheroo. Bought some flat pedals for the oldest cannondale and put the barely used clipless pedals on the slightly newer, but much more used cannondale.
After six years of riding in the salt, snow, rain, and muck the old pedals didn't want to come off. I grabbed a torch and heated them up until they were smoking hot and then they reluctantly gave in to my desires.
Busted out the scrub brush, gave the old cannondale a thorough commuter cleaning, and now it's running just fine. Keep in mind this is a commuter bike cleaning, not some high end, fancy ass cleaning.
A guy like Bryan Sweeney cleans his sweet road bike with Q tips and pipe cleaners. It takes the better part of two days to get the job done. When you clean a man's bike,like a commuter bike, you can do it in fifteen minutes. You just get out your hose, your scrub brush, and a bucket, and you have at it.
Bicycling magazine informs us that he most wretched repair is the seized seat post. So I pulled all of my seat posts, lubed them, and returned them to their frames. The stable of bicycles has a pretty good patina to them. Three of the four have been ridden hard and put away wet on more than one occasion. Some are my worn than others. But at the moment, they're all running well and each has a purpose for which it is ideally suited.
posted by joe berkeley at 3:03 AM
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