35 Day Hiatus Ends!

Because of all of the snow (we had over 50 inches of snow in February alone) I have not ridden the Raleigh in 35 days. February 2010 was the first month since I have been riding (June 2007 start) that I had no mileage at all.


Today I rode 15.6 miles to test out the Raleigh after I completed the 3 year maintenance. The Raleigh rode smoothly. I do need to tweak in the front derailleur, so I will do that later--- I just wanted to ride.

I really like the Vittoria Zaffiro Pro tires. They ride very smoothly. The rolling resistance seemed low as I felt like I had too much speed going down some of the hills. You can definitely tell that it is a quality tire.

Recall that on September 06, 2008 I swore of cheap tires. I had purchased 2 IRC Red Storm tires for $25. One had a kink, the other started to fall apart after 300 miles. On the other hand, I got nearly 4000 miles on the Vittoria Zaffiro and I could have still used them. The Vittoria Zaffiro Pro are only $20 each. From now on I am only buying Vittoria Tires.

4066 Miles 3 Year Maintenance

Today I started the 3 year maintenance on the Raleigh Grand Prix. This is what I did:

1. Stripped all of the accessories off the bike.

2. Removed the pedals and lubed them.

3. Checked the chain for stretch using my Nashbar chain tool. It checks if there is 1% or greater stretch, indicating it should be changed. My chain is OK.

4. Removed the chain and degreased it.

5. I inspected both tires. I have about 4000 miles on these tires and can probably get more out of them. There are some sidewall cracks. Sheldon Brown says the sidewall cracks are harmless and you only need to replace the tires when you see the threads of the tire through the rubber.

I am going to play it safe and replace them. I ordered 2 Vittoria Zaffiro Pro tires from PricePoint at $19.99 each. The tires I have now are the Vittoria Zaffiro. They have performed well so I am sticking with Vittoria. The Pro is a little lighter at 240 grams and has 60 TPI (threads per inch) which should be a better ride.

6. Removed the chain rings and cleaned them.

7. I removed the cassette and cleaned it. I used a piece of long cloth to "floss" the cassette.

Before

Flossing

After

8. I also cleaned and regreased the front and rear wheel bearings.

Each side of the axle has 9 ball bearings, so you have to be careful and make sure you get them back in properly.

9. I also thoroughly cleaned the rear derailleur wheels. No grease is needed as they are ceramic.

10. I took apart and greased the brake cable mechanism. They were stuck.

11. I am also replacing the brake pads. They are $3.98 a set at PricePoint. These pads are still good but I like to play it safe. A new pad has 3.0 mm of material. The front was worn down to 1-1.5 mm and the rear had 2.0 mm left.








I changed the tires, reinstalled the chain and lubed it, reinstalled all of the accessories. I will give it a test run tomorrow, the weather is going to be good finally!