Sir Lancelot, my Surly Long Haul Trucker received a “winter” service today at 4,272km.  Winter services are carried out during winter and spring due to the wet weather riding conditions experienced.

This service consisted of:

1. Degreasing the chain using a Park’s Tool CM-5 Cyclone Chain Scrubber and Australian Export degreaser;
2. Application of Rock and Roll Gold chain lube to the chain;
3. Checking of chain wear with a Park Tools CC-3 Chain Wear indicator -  no issues on this front;
4. Checking the tension on all bolts and screws on Sir Lancelot. 
5. Cleaning the bike. 
6. Removed the Continental Travel Contacts and replaced them with 700×28C Continental Grand Prix 4-Season V tires.
7. Two special nuts which hold the SKS Chromoplastic P50 mudguards on at the rear have dropped out. I have attempted to contact SKS about getting replacements with no reply so far.  Why do business bother to have contact forms if they do not reply? In the meantime I have wired the stays to the guard. Hopefully this will do the trick.
8. Fitted my wired Sigma Sports BC 1606 L bike computer as a temporary measure to replace my out of action Garmin Edge 305.

Due to time constraints service points three and four where not completed with this service.

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Tags: Bicycel Maintenance,Surly Long Haul Trucker
Categories: Bicycle maintenance
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Sir Lancelot, my Surly Long Haul Trucker received a “winter” service today at 3,736 km / 2,315 mi.  This one was about 500 km overdue, so really should have done twice in the same period.  That said, other than being really dirty, there was no noticeable negative impact from the delay serviced.

Winter services are scheduled every 500 km and consist of:

1. Degreasing the chain using a Park’s Tool CM-5 Cyclone Chain Scrubber and Australian Export degreaser;
2. Application of Rock and Roll Gold chain lube to the chain;
3. Checking of chain wear with a Park Tools CC-3 Chain Wear indicator -  no issues on this front;
4. Checking the tension on all bolts and screws on Sir Lancelot.  More signs of rust in numerous bolts and screws.  Applied Inox to all the bolts and screws to hopefully slow down the rusting.
5. Cleaning the bike.  I ensured that I covered the Garmin Edge GCS-10 sensor this time with a plastic bag to avoid it getting wet. It seems to have done the trick.
6. As it is the first service in Spring 09 Sir Lancelot got a polish as well. Applied Turtle Wax car polish.

Tyre wear is okay, brake pad wear is okay and the derailleurs and brakes are holding their adjustments okay.

On the down side there is some paint damage to the top tube. I guess that just comes with life on the road as a tourer and commuter.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Tags: Bicycel Maintenance,Park Tools,Rock and Roll,Surly Long Haul Trucker
Categories: Bicycle maintenance, Bicycling
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My Shimano M505 pedals (well the left one really) on Chase, my Giant CRX 1, is making noises and feeling rough on the axle after about 8,800 km, so I need to at least pull them off and hopefully service them and get them back into operation.

Given the pedals have been on the bike for some time, I decided that maybe a pedal spanner was probably a good idea. I dropped into Bike Force Fremantle for a spanner and picked up a Fat Spanner Heavy Duty Pro Pedal Spanner for $25.00.  Doesn’t look that great but that is all they had and it is a Sunday. It actually  worked just fine, so there you go. I also had hoped to talk to them about servicing the M505s but the staff member I spoke to was pretty indifferent about that and not helpful at all.  I had high hopes for Bike Force Fremantle but with each visit I am getting more and more disappointed.

Shimano have a exploded diagram of the pedals and it does look like I can at least pull them apart to clean them and maybe grease them. Worth a shot anyway.

First step is to get the pedals off and to fit my spare Shimano SPD pedals to keep the bike going and then I will play with the M505s.

Alex, the Bicycle Tutor, has a very helpful video on removing pedals which is a good reminder on the basics of left and right threads used on pedals.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Tags: Bicycel Maintenance,M505,Pedals,Shimano
Categories: Bicycle maintenance, Bicycling
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