I am so tired of being sick, but I'm not well enough to ride yet. I wanted to do something bicycle-related, and a glance at my maintenance schedule shows the chain is overdue (2500+ miles). I popped off the old chain (a KMC DX10-SC), and, sure enough, there was "stretch" of 2-3mm compared to a new chain (a SRAM PC-1031; the astute bike mechanic will note that the common thread in these chains is: "cheap"). Probably should have changed it at 2000 miles, but a quick ride around the neighborhood (which is all I can handle right now) didn't show any evidence of cassette skipping.
While I had the chain off, I opened up the crankset and the bottom bracket. Still no water in there! I re-lubed and replaced the BB, and before I put the crankset back on, I decided to clean it up. Now there's a pain of a job - all those gears are sharp; the rag catches all over the place. And the mineral spirits I used only did a so-so job of getting the road grime off. The cranks are mechanically much improved, but they sure don't look new!
Also cleaned up the cogset. Park Tool sells a brush for this, but the scraper is made for a 9-speed cog, mine got hung up between the gears. The best way I've found to clean the cog is to spray it with degreaser (use a water-soluble one like Simple Green, or even one of the environmentally-friendly ones the bike shops sell), then cut lengths of cheap twine and run them between the cogs to loosen up the grime, then go over the whole business with a rag.
Then put the new chain on, and do a quick ride to make sure it shifts right and it's not skipping. On the way back, I noticed the front tire appeared low. It was: I usually keep the front at about 95 psi and the rear at about 110 psi. Today, after two weeks of neglect, they were at about 40 psi front and 60 psi rear. Hrmph. Looks like the Yellow Maserati doesn't take well to being ignored!
And I'm exhausted. I'm going to get back on the recliner and fall asleep reading a Terry Pratchett novel.
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