I got about 45 minutes into it and realized I was, in no way, prepared to take this on. I should have made sure I had all the pieces and parts before I pulled everything off the bike. Lesson learned. The shifters I was going to use didn't work. One of them was damaged in storage somehow. All I can say is, it worked when I pulled it off my MTB but it didn't work last night. The wheel I was going to use had no skewer. Seems like a simple fix, right? Nope. I searched my garage high and low, yet somehow couldn't find a QR skewer anywhere. It's one of those things that I guess I used to fix someone else's bike. Dang.
After about three or four more infractions against my efforts, I gave up. I put the old drivetrain back on the Xtra and put all my crap away.
I did decide to give it a little love, though. I cleaned the entire bike and threw on some accessories. This was one I've been meaning to do for a while...
You can see on the right side where the v-racks drop into the Free Radical frame. Well, water gets down in there and doesn't leave. After it rains, I can see standing water in the FreeRad... not good for a steel frame. I sliced up some inner tubes and slid them over the v-racks and FreeRad. This way, no water's gonna get in there.
Other than that, I installed a front rack and gave everything a tune up. I'll fill you in on the why and what with the front rack later.
Get out there.
you gotta put some grease in there, at least. Or spray in FrameSaver, or even just some paste wax if that's all you've got. But don't leave it 'dry' or they'll rust in like mine did, inner tube seals or no.
ReplyDeletegreat blog post about the kayak excursion too.
@jmp - Framesaver is a great idea. I have some leftovers in a can from when I did my CrossCheck. Great thought. I hadn't even given it a consideration. Thanks for the tip! And thanks for reading!
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