December bicycle cleaning and maintenance

Mid December 2019

Decided to try the paraffin wax for my bicycle chains. The first thing you need to do is take the bike chains off the bikes and to do this you need to break the chain and put on master links (missing links) on the chains.

Requires a chain break tool

After removing the chains they need a thorough cleaning to remove all the old lube and road grime then a final ultrasonic cleaning. Then the paraffin wax is heated up in an old crock pot and the chains are soaked in the very hot wax.

During this process the rear cassettes and rear derail-er jockey wheels were also thoroughly cleaned.

Then the derail-er jockey wheels were greased and re-assembled; something that rarely gets done but was dearly needed!

When this was finished on all three of my bikes I had learned a lot and felt pretty good about taking care of bicycle drive trains! 

December, Friday the 13th! Only my second bike ride of the month. We have had a lot of snow so far this month and I've had to shovel a lot more than bike ride or anything else. Another snow storm is coming in and the weather today was around 40 degrees F so I decided to sneak in another bike ride before I have to start shoveling again. I left Mendon and headed towards Trapper Park located south west of Logan along the Logan River. From there I continued along the Logan River Trail a ways then headed back home. The ride was a little over 21 miles. Laura Hawley another cyclist rode over to Trapper Park yesterday which inspired me to go visit the Park today. It's a quiet pretty little spot along the river and an enjoyable bike ride. I was on my Jamis gravel bike so a little snow and gravel was no problem. I even have snow tires on the bike as I have noted on the previous post. It's a little hard to get motivated to get out and ride but every time I do I really enjoy each new adventure on the bike, even in the winter.

A winter bike ride

Rode the bike today, December 3rd, 2019, Tuesday. The weather was a typical December winter day, overcast with little sunshine and about 34 degrees F. Rode a little over 25 miles with an elevation gain of more than 1000 feet. The bike was my Jamis steel frame cyclocross bike with winter studded snow tires! By the time I got back my hands a feet were a little cold and I was a little uncomfortable but it is good to push the comfort zones especially as we get older. Bike riding is one of my passions and takes me to places I enjoy both physically and mentally; one of life's simpler pleasures.