Vamos

When Emily and I first got married, with our first tax return, we bought bicycles. A little over two years later, and we'd hardly put many miles on them (or at least, on mine). I've been able to ride it since May (thanks for bringing it back up Mom and Dad) and I've had a great time. The problem is that with it sitting for so long, I'm afraid of how much work it needed to get it into prime riding condition. It squeaked like a couple parakeets and there were little grinding noises. The dérailleurs caused the chain to jump back and forth between gears. And then this summer, something happened to form a small bulge in the rim wall of my rear tire.

So yesterday, I took it to Mad Dog Cycles in Provo and had the guy look it over. I'd already tweaked with the derailleurs and got them working, but the rest of it I wasn't sure. So he recommends some new lubricant and tells me how to clean the chain and lube it all up. Its amazing stuff.
Here's a quick lesson on lubricating a bicycle:
1. Use dish soap, water, and a toothbrush to scrub the chain down real good.
2. Try it again but with Simple Green or PineSol.
3. Use a sock or rag and wipe it clean, let the chain airdry.
4. While the chain is drying, wipe down the rest of your bike real well with a damp paper towel.
5. Use the Dumonde Tech lubricant real sparingly, you don't even have to squeeze, just run it along the the chain links. Wipe off any extra.
6. Lubricate the pulley discs near the back wheel (they make the parrot noises), the brake levers (NOT THE PADS), the cabels near the sheathing, and any other moving parts, go small, a little of the stuff goes a LONG way.
7. Go for a little spin after the lube has soaked for a minute and enjoy the smoothness and silence of the ride.
8. Reapply when you start hearing noises from the chain.

I was absolutely amazed at the noise not coming from my bike. It was like stealth mode. Spy Hunter. I had such a good time enjoying my nice newish bike, Zack (Emily's cousin) and I dinked around the parking lot trying to pop wheelies and do bunny hops for about 20 minutes. This morning as I rode to work, something was funny about my back wheel, it's tweaked crooked. Doh!