This was the first weekend in a while where we pretty much had no plans. I figured I’d probably find some time to go for a nice long road ride. Get up early, get on the road by 6:30 or 7, stay out for 5 or 6 hours, etc. Yeah right.

I forgot how nice it is to sleep in. And by sleep in, I mean a nice leisurely 8am. Saturday turned into a family ride day, which was fantastic. Did 17.5 miles on the Minuteman trail, starting in Bedford. The trail is long and flat, compared to the Assabet River trail which is a significant down hill to Hudson, and a nice significant uphill back to Marlborough. In any case, we also got a great trial of the Thule tow hitch rack that my Uncle Fred gave us. It is so easy to use and mount compared to my old trunk rack.

Today I decided to finally spend time working on my bike rather than riding it. I had some long overdue maintenance that I just haven’t been able to carve time out for. I did spend about 3 hours working on the bike, but I was still surprised that all the repairs turned out to be fairly easy.

I started by taking off the rims, stripping the tires and tubes off, taking off the cassette, and hitting everything with citrus degreaser. Then I trued the wheels, which was one of the repairs I was scared of. But, turns out to be fairly easy – would probably be harder if they were further out of true to begin with.

After cleaning the wheels spotless, I cleaned the tires and tubes and re-mounted them on the rims. I then installed a new cassette (my favorite 11×28 set), and set them aside. I removed the chain and the rear derailer, and cleaned most of the bike with degreaser. I spent a lot of time cleaning the front derailer and crankset.

I mounted a new rear derailer and attached the cable, then put the wheels back on. I measured and linked up a new chain, then worked on adjusting the new derailer. Put a nice light layer of teflon lube on the new chain, and wiped it clear – and now I vow to take better care of my drivetrain. Everything is crisp and clean, and hopefully I can try to keep it that way! I’ve got 7,600+ miles on this bike (and 700 miles on my MTB in the same timeframe), and am only on my third chain and cassette. Somewhere I heard you should replace your chain every 1,000 miles and cassette every 2,000 – so I think I was very overdue. I now have a chain checker and a chain cleaning machine, so I can maintain it better, and hopefully the bike will continue to shift well (or hopefully better now!).

One thing I’m really happy about is that I bought a cheap bike, and am getting the most out of it. Anytime I need to replace a part on this bike the replacement part is really cheap. Whether I was riding a $5,000 bike or a $450 bike (that’s how much I paid!), I’d still need to replace these parts. Replacing an 8-speed Sora derailer for $30 is a lot less than a 10-speed Ultegra ($80), even the 8 speed chain ($10) is less than a 10 speed ($25). So, next time you see someone riding a $5,000 bike ask them how much their last tuneup was, and how many miles per year they ride. I ride a $450 bike and ride 3,000 miles per year.