Spring Cleaning

Finally Springtime has rolled around and I actually look forward to cleaning up my commuter bike.  I try to keep it out of the worst of the winter mess but it ends up grimy and salty no matter what.  A couple years ago I started using an Automotive washing soap in my bucket of hot water instead of the dish soap from the kitchen.  I read something somewhere about the sulfates in dish soap being bad for paint and clear coats but I don't have to worry about that with bare titanium tubes.  The difference I have noticed is that the the car wash stuff cuts the grease and rim brake dust much more effectively than it's kitchen cousin.

Flossing the cogs!

I use a wax based lube on my chain. It doesn't last like a wet lube so it has to be regularly reapplied. The one downside to overzealous lubrication is that it tends to gum up between the cogs.  A piece of old cotton sock drenched in a solvent like WD-40 makes an ideal floss to clean those sprockets.  Positioning the hub against my bucket and with my feet boxing in the tire I use a side to side motion with the cloth to work down between the gears.  The pull to the left spins the freewheel about an eighth of a turn.  Sliding back to the right engages the pawls locking the sprocket and allowing the rag to do its thing.  With some experimentation the thickness of the cloth can be found that best slides between the teeth without snagging and with a little practice eight or ten back and forth cycles between each gear leaves them all clean and polished.

I picked up a new Park chain tool last year and finally had a chance to use it to putting on a fresh drive chain.  

A clean drivetrain is a quiet drivetrain.  And that makes me a happy rider.

The Ti General Purpose Bike serviceable and ready for commuting duty.