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!

2580 Miles 2 year maintenance

Today I worked on getting the Raleigh Grand Prix in shape for the good weather riding. I ride year round so I figured it would be good to do this work when spring starts. I will be able to start my morning fitness rides on April 13 when civil twilight will be at about 6:00 am.

Anyway, I have over 2500 miles on the bike so I decided to replace the chain, all cables and the brake pads. I also removed and greased every bolt on the bike. I also took apart the derailleur sprocket wheels and greased them. The lower wheel was really dry and rusty in the bearing hosing and was making a squeaking noise.

I first took off everything on the bike like lights, computer etc.

I then replaced the chain. I purchased the chain from Nashbar for $11.99. It comes with a quick link which will make it easier to degrease my chain in the future.

I then replaced all 4 cables ( 2 gear and 2 brake). I used Alligator PTFE Stainless Cables from PricePoint at $4.98 each.

The old brakes were pretty worn.

I then replaced the brake pads. I actually had to replace the whole cartridge pad assembly because the original Tektro brake pads were not the cartridge type. I use Alligator Road Cartridge Brake Shoes from PricePoint at $8.98 each set.

All during the work I washed the bike with an orange spray cleaner.

I then took the bike for a 18 mile test ride. Everything worked really smoothly. I did have to do a minor adjustment on the rear derailleur to get rid of some chain noise when in the largest wheel sprocket.

Raleigh Grand Prix Background

I bought my 2006 Raleigh Grand Prix at Shirk's Bike Shop in East Earl, PA on June 04, 2007 for $700. I put approximately 1450 miles on it my first year of riding.

The bike has been extremely reliable. The only maintenance I had done other than lubing the chain and adjusting the brakes for wear was:

1.) A spoke broke in February 2008 and I had The Downingtown Bike Shop repair it for $25.

2.) On July 05, 2008 I checked the chain stretch. It was 1/16" and acceptable. I then took apart the chain, cleaned it in mineral spirits and reassembled and lubed.

I am going to keep this blog as a companion to my Motobecane Fantom 29 Blog . I won't write as many posts on this blog, as I will just write about the maintenance I perform on the Raleigh.