The weather this Easter weekend is just appalling here, with very strong winds and quite heavy snow showers. It's also very cold. So the bikes are staying in the shed and I've been spending this downtime getting ready for the annual service on the bikes. Doing my own own servicing is one of the most enjoyable things about cycling. So many of the other things we own and use nowadays either aren't user serviceable or need such special tools and so on, so it's a real pleasure to work on bikes which can be stripped down and rebuilt with cleaned, regreased or replacement parts, with just a few tools and ideally a workstand. Of course, the more often you do these jobs, the more confident and skilful you become.
Perhaps the greatest benefit from home servicing is the confidence you gain in the bicycle you're riding. When I apply the brakes, I know exactly the condition of the brake levers, the cables, the brake shoes and so on. And when I turn the pedals I know that the wheel bearings are in good condition, well greased and properly seated.
So this weekend I've been checking my supplies of cables, grease, brake shoes, chain oil and all the other bits and pieces I'm going to need. As soon as the weather warms up I'll get started in the shed and then I can look forward to the road tests ...
No comments:
Post a Comment