I hope everyone had a Great Holiday. Turns out Santa was really good to me again this year. I got the FUJI FINEPIX Camera I was hoping for with 10 m.p. and 12x optical zoom. Also got a custom made walking stick. It is made out of a willow branch and has lots of cool bicycle stuff burned into it. I will have to post it at some point. It was a gift from Bonnie at Footprints R Made. Thanks Bonnie, I will treasure it always.
Anyway it was cold here today with a wind-chill in the single digits. A good day to fire up the heaters and work in the shop/garage. I decided to start with the front wheel. Step one take-off the tire, tube and rim strip. Then make sure it is worth saving. First I put it on the wheel truing stand and found the bad spots and marked them with a felt tip marker. Then a little oil on the spoke nipple threads. And she`s ready for truing. It trued-up fine, with very little spoke tightening & loosening. So it is time to clean-up the rim.
I went over it real good with the brass detail brush. I will polish it latter on. I did the same with the hub and flanges and quick release skewer. Then after what seemed like endless brass-brushing, I cleaned up the spokes with some Simple Green biodegradable cleaner de greaser. Tomorrow I will remove the skewer,axle and bearings and soak them in the cleaner for an hour. Maybe I can post that. Although I do NOT recommend using the cleaner that I am using. I need to get the lead out and order an Ultrasonic Parts Cleaner. Well after that I watched some wheel related videos on the net. Interesting indeed but not much of a plot..ltms.
Well "all in all" I think the wheel cleaned up pretty good. And after some Turtle Wax Chrome Polish & Rust Remover on the chrome. And some Mother`s Mag and Aluminum Polish on the hub and flanges, I think it`s gonna look like a million dollars. Well maybe not that good. Ok that`s it for today. Except I might mention I purchased three bikes yesterday for about 47.00. They don`t need restoring just cleaning and some maintenance. If it is warm enough where you are ride your bike. But please Ride Safely. And Remember as Always to RESCUE, RESTORE & RECYCLE
Cheers,Hugh
