After a decade-long hiatus from bicycle riding, I picked up a 12-speed road bike at a garage sale for $10. It's a 90s model Spalding Blade that spent the last 10 or 15 years in a garage doing nothing. It came with new (well, old, but unused) Araya Rims. It's got a chromoly frame that's in great shape for it's age.
After spending about $100 on new tires and tubes, a new seat, and a fresh chain at the local bike shop, I headed home to disassemble, clean and re-pack the bearings in the crank and wheels. I used some M1 NLGI 5 grease I had laying around. Though thick, it didn't seem to slow things down compared to the dirt and grit that was in it's place before. Everything else got oiled up with a mixture of M1 0W-40, ATF, and a dash of MMO from my oil can. The gears shifted poorly, but wavinwayne's post some time ago gave a pretty good description of how to do a drive train adjustment and now they do very well. I've ordered a new set of brakes to replace these as the springs are played out and the pads needed to go. With that purchase (~$25), they're going to install all new cabling for free so I figured it was worth it.
I did something similar for the wife and we've been riding around the neighborhood in the evening. I'm not trying to be Lance Armstrong or anything, but it's fun to go for a cruise now and again and it's always nice to have another piece of equipment to work on and maintain.
Anyway, if I ask some stupid noob type questions please forgive me. I'll always search first.
After spending about $100 on new tires and tubes, a new seat, and a fresh chain at the local bike shop, I headed home to disassemble, clean and re-pack the bearings in the crank and wheels. I used some M1 NLGI 5 grease I had laying around. Though thick, it didn't seem to slow things down compared to the dirt and grit that was in it's place before. Everything else got oiled up with a mixture of M1 0W-40, ATF, and a dash of MMO from my oil can. The gears shifted poorly, but wavinwayne's post some time ago gave a pretty good description of how to do a drive train adjustment and now they do very well. I've ordered a new set of brakes to replace these as the springs are played out and the pads needed to go. With that purchase (~$25), they're going to install all new cabling for free so I figured it was worth it.
I did something similar for the wife and we've been riding around the neighborhood in the evening. I'm not trying to be Lance Armstrong or anything, but it's fun to go for a cruise now and again and it's always nice to have another piece of equipment to work on and maintain.
Anyway, if I ask some stupid noob type questions please forgive me. I'll always search first.