one monkey typing

My front tire was leaking down this week. I got it off and patched it, I don't think it was a puncture, the tube looked like it had been pinched or abraded in a line.

Also my chain had gotten quite loose and was badly corroded and sticky. I put it in a mineral spirits wash for a couple of hours, shaking it by hand while watching TV. Then I put some prolink on it, but I don't like prolink for winter riding, it's too thin and dry. I went to the bike shop in town today to look for some wet lube but they didn't have anything I liked - the wrench there wanted to push Boeshield T9, but I already have some and really don't think it's very good.

I wound up coming home and cutting some chainsaw bar oil with a little mineral spirits to make it flow. That should be sticky enough. Really in the winter it would be best if I cleaned the chain a lot more. I don't like doing it but I should try to do it.

Then I had to adjust the bottom bracket to tension the chain. This is a little bit of a pain in the butt - I haven't found a pin spanner that does a good job so I just put a crappy allen wrench in a hole and tap on it with a screwdriver and a 2 pound sledge to rotate it.

I'm not happy with the weather forecast for Sunday/Monday. If there's 10 inches of snow, I'll probably wave off riding on Monday, and I already skipped Friday due to the flat tire and the chain issues.

Odometer: 1300
Yeah, low mileage for a bike I've had for over a year. I don't ride this bike unless I have to (Giant Seek 0 2014)

I broke the spoke in position 32 last night. Only one factory spoke left on the rear drive side/trailing positions.

Previously 20, 24, 28, 8, 12, 4 have broken.

Odometer: 789 miles - yes, the miles are going on very slowly this winter. I've succumbed to saying "screw it, I'm driving" just because it's -10*F out a lot this winter.

This week's broken spoke is spoke #20, another drive side/trailing edge spoke. Only three more to go before all the stock spokes in that position have snapped. None of the replacements (Wheelsmith) have broken. The first break was at 163 miles, the second at 270, so both of those replacements have more miles on them than the first one when it broke. If I reach 1000 miles without breaking any replacements, I'll put it down to just garbage spokes. If any of the replacements break, I'll tear the wheel down and relace it with new spokes.

This one broke on Thursday on my way to work. They make a significant PING when they break. With the disc brakes I can just let them slide until the weekend when I can work on them in daylight.

previously: 24, 28, 8, 12 have broken

Odometer: 475 miles

2K on the road bike (new bike for this year) as of Thursday morning.

Had a flat tire (rear), was a bad patch - one of the old square ones done with bad technique. Replaced patch. Rear tire center is clearly worn flat but still lots of miles (it has 1000 miles on it now).

Reconfigured - moved handlebar bag to seat post on a ToPeak T bar to free up bar space for headlight in a normal position.

Chain cleaned and re-lubed with Chain-L lube (new lube). VERY quiet running, supposed to be an excellent lube. Really thick. Chain still does not register as even 0.75 wear on the chain gauge.

Odometer: 1622

First big round number on the new road bike. I ride significantly more miles per day on this bike, though I spend the same or a bit less time on it. I can do 14 miles on this bike in about the same time I do 10.5 on the other one. Partially due to it being more efficient, partly that I'm having more fun so I work harder at it.

I'll take some 60 degree weather now. kthx.

Weighs 24 pounds with pedals, bottle cages, pump, seat wedge and spare tube. Haven't added the kickstand yet, it's not here ;)

Odometer: 0.0 Feb 27 2013

Should have put them on last night, but the forecast didn't look quite that bad and I didn't get home from the concert until 9:15 or so.

Marathon and Panaracer off, Nokian Hakkapeliitta W240s on.

Odometer: 28567 miles

My bike computer reset itself. Some investigation revealed that one of the battery contacts wasn't pressing against the battery very hard so if the battery shifted a bit it reset.
I bent the contact and it seems solid now.
I had to guess at the odometer. I remember seeing it at about 277xx and that was a few days ago so I set it to 27800.

Guess I rolled 27K on Wednesday evening. Didn't notice until Thursday morning, didn't get around to posting until today.