A Little Bit of Bike Maintenance Today

Yesterday I did about 13 miles on the Nishiki road bike and I noticed two things needed attention. First, the tires were a bit low. Second and more importantly, I was getting "ghost shifting." In other words, I'd set the rear derailleur to one gear and it would shift itself to the next highest gear. Obviously, this is undesirable.

I did a bit of research after getting home and found this:

"...most all "auto shifting" or "ghost shifting" is the result of cable-tension problems. If the cable is a bit loose, the derailleur will try to shift "up" to a smaller cog. If too tight, it will try to catch the next larger cog. Cables stretch, especially after a short period where the new cables stretch to the point they're stable. after that, they should be good for a long time..."

Link.

So, this morning I dug out my bike maintenance stand, put the bike up on it, and played with the cable tension until it stopped shifting on its own. While it was on the stand I also gave it a wipe down, cleaned the rims, and adjusted the brakes. 

Before putting the Nishiki away I inflated the tires to 120 PSI and did a test ride up and down the block. According to the pressure gauge on my Blackburn pump, the tires were below 100 PSI. It rolls noticeably faster now (and of course the ride isn't as soft) and I didn't experience any ghost shifting.

While I had the maintenance stand out I also used it to give my Trek 820 a cleaning. The last ride I took on it was down in Valley Green on gravel and it was pretty dirty. It needed to be hosed off, needed the chain cleaned and relubed, and the rims cleaned.

For chain lube I am using Pedro's Ice Wax, which dries to a dry film lubricant. It should hopefully be a bit more resistant to washing off if I get caught in the rain, and won't retain dirt and grit like a wet lube will.

Back the 1980s a couple friends used to lube their bike chain by immersing them in melted paraffin wax, after degreasing them in a bath of gasoline. Yeah, it's amazing we survived. If I ever decide to try the molten wax bath I'll use odorless mineral spirits for the initial clean and degrease job.

If you're going to get into doing much bicycle maintenance I highly recommend some kind of maintenance stand. I have this one. It allows me to elevate the bike so I don't need to squat and to get the wheels and drivetrain moving so I can adjust the derailleurs and brakes.

Also recommended are the following books:

• Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance
• Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance

There's some overlap between the two but if you have both kinds of bikes, getting both books is worthwhile, IMO.

The Park Tool YouTube channel is another excellent bike maintenance resource.

Ever since the COVID lockdowns started, bike shops have been extremely busy. If you're able to do your own bike maintenance you'll save yourself money and time in keeping yourself on the road or trail. And bikes do need periodic maintenance, probably more per mile ridden than motor vehicles do. Preventative maintenance at home is preferable to fixing something on the side of the road.