Well, I'm certain that wrk101 is absolutely correct about needing to do an overhaul and bearing clean and regrease. I also think that the RD needs to be cleaned and re-lubed, per Beach's suggestions. I rode tonight again......another really nice evening for it.....headwind going out and a tail wind coming back....rode for about 40 minutes. I could not duplicate the vibration that I was feeling yesterday, but toward the end of the ride I started to notice a slight clicking noise coming from the rear.
So I got it home, and pedaled it by hand to see if I could hear the clicking noise......nope.....I only hear it when I am on the bike.....so I am thinking, yea, the bearing grease is probably all gummed up and now I'm getting a bearing that's clicking a tad under stress. Also, another thing I noticed, and maybe I am wrong about this, being a noob......
Shouldn't the rear wheel spin freely(in the normal riding direction) and not move the pedals at all? Let me try to explain.....the wheel spins freely when I hold the pedals with my hand, or when I am out riding.....it coasts nicely...or at least seems to. But when I have it at home, and lift up the back end, spin the wheel in the drive direction, it spins freely, but then when I let go of the pedals, the pedals want to move with the wheel. Should it do that? Or is that another sign that something is not functioning properly with the hub/freewheel/etc??
Anyways, I am planning on tearing down the back wheel and soon. The slight clicking sound makes me think that I might be tearing up a bearing, so the sooner I get to it, the better. And fwiw, I did check the hub with my hand after the ride, and it didn't feel warm at all, so I would assume that means that at least nothing is starting to seize up....yet.
Any hints/tips/advice as to what I should do at this point would be welcomed. Here are my first thoughts on it all.....clean and regrease RD, disassemble rear hub and clean/regrease/replace bearings, and readjust properly(this all will be a very fun learning experience, imo), and replace chain. That's for starters. Then I'll move onto the front hub and fork head bearings(not sure of the terminology), and then the crank bearings.
Needless to say, I plan on doing a lot of reading at both Sheldon Brown's site as well as Park Tool....try to get as much info as I can into my head before I tear into the rear hub and such.
I truly love the ride of this bike, and have absolutely no plans to get rid of the thing.....I want to work on it and get it to a point of excellent/very reliable condition so that I can do longer rides with it. And it doesn't matter how long I might have it torn apart, as I have my mtb as a backup, and I have plenty of room in the garage. Plus I want to learn on this bike so that I continue to do the same with other bikes....
I had about 20 minutes on my ride tonight where I wasn't toying with the bike, or checking for noises, or any of that.....I was just enjoying the ride.....really enjoying it......I had forgotten how much I loved riding a road bike......
Except for the first mile.....as I got on the bike and thought, "damn my butt hurts!!!"....fortunately it didn't last long....this road bike has a different seat and riding position than the mtb, as my butt never felt like this on the mtb. I remember this kind of pain after going for long rides on my old 10 speed when I was a youngster....lol.
Thanks in advance for any help!
Edit: Any sorts of special tools I should pick up for this that might make it all a bit easier?