by Steve ~ June 30th, 2007. Filed under: Maintenance & Repairs.
I performed routine maintenance this morning that I’d been avoiding, the work of about 30 minutes. I adjusted and tightened brake cables, added some air to the tires, cleaned and lubed the drive train, adjusted the bearing tightness on the rear hub (there was a tiny bit of play), tightened and adjusted the shifter for the front derailer, and cleaned up the beast. I also inspected the wheel I’d trued a few weeks back. I’d noticed a little wobble while cycling. It turned out to be a slight warp and bulge in the tire, not the rim. I inspected the rim without the tire and it spun as true as I’m able to get it. Note to self: always remove the tire before truing the wheel, otherwise you’ll true the tire, not the rim. The SC1800 seems to be in good working shape.
The tire pressure is interesting. Bike tires tend to lose pressure over the course of a week… rubber is porous. The tires on the SC1800 require 45 to 55 PSI inflation. I tend to keep my tires inflated to the highest spec because it improves the efficiency of the ride. One side effect of that, however, is that the higher inflation seems to cause more wear and tear on the actual wheel… they feel the bumps more. As the tires have lost pressure (I think they’re down to about 35 PSI now) they’ve been able to absorb more of the general roughness of my commuting route. Efficiency has gone down, but the ride is more comfortable, and the wheels seem happier. I’m going to keep tire pressure near the low end of the spec to see how things work out. Efficiency isn’t everything.
Overall, the commuting kilometers I’m racking up on the SC1800 are adding considerably to my season’s ride total. (Check out my Ride Log for details) I have 1212 Km on the Bike of Doom and another 1,400 Km on other bikes, totaling about 2,600 for the season so far. With four months of comfortable cycling left this year, I’m headed toward 5,000 Km this season, perhaps more, which would be a record for me. My best previous year was 4,200 Km or thereabouts. Last year I did a pathetic 2,500 Km.
Related posts:
1227 Km — Two flats and a destroyed tire
885 Km - wheel repair
1018 Km — 1,000 Kilometre Maintenance
