For the Let’s Go Ride A Bike Summer Games, one of the events is to perform some maintenance on your bike. There’s not much regular maintenance to be done on my bike, but it does definitely get dirty. This spring in Portland has been a bit like living in a rain forest, and so dirt and mud have been abundant.
A good wipedown with a wet rag, making sure to clean up the sides of the rims, the front of the headlight and some lemon-juice based cleaner to clean some of the oil and grit off the hub shell, and Bertram is looking much better.
I didn’t need to oil my chain, but if I did, it would go like this:
There’s this little screw on the back of the chain case. Unscrew it.
The bottom section of the rear part of the chaincase pops off, and the chain and sprocket are exposed. Wipe off the sprocket, put up the kickstand, and spin the pedals to clean it off.
The older Sturmey Archer hubs are oil lubricated, not grease, and they have a little port in the hub shell so you can add oil periodically. The little cap on top flips up.
I keep a little nalgene squeezy bottle of motor oil around for this purpose – a few drops every week or two.
If you’re doing this inside, like I am, make sure to remember to sweep up after yourself to avoid any relational conflicts that might result with your significant others.
Also, don’t forget to clean the sink out well after you wash your hands :)
