Hello, all!

It's been a while but there hasn't been much happening with the bikes. 1219 miles on the Denali, 318 miles on the Sovereign.

Wow, I've only put 18 miles on the Denali since the last update...but then I was waiting to overhaul it, plus it's not the winter bike, so...

Speaking of which, I completed the overhaul today. That consisted of stripping the bike down, cleaning the derailleurs, crankset, chain, and cassette (off the bike soaked in degreaser), removing, cleaning, and regreasing both wheel bearings and the headset. I found everything as expected, no issues. On a side note this is the first time I have inspected the headset on the Denali since new. Also wiped down the frame to get it all clean again, and inspected all other components not serviced.

Please excuse the mess in the following pictures. Junk tends to go everywhere while I'm working on bikes. BTW, empty beer boxes make great portable trash cans for paper towels and stuff.



Here's what I was looking at to start with. Several hundred miles of dirt that was waiting for the right moment to be removed. That was today!



Fork and headset removed. These are original parts. Other than a slight bit of surface rust up there near the top, everything was fine. Factory grease was thick and still in place, bearings were 100%. Cleaned and repacked.

Both wheel bearings (front still original) were the same, no problems. Cleaned and repacked.



Drivetrain post cleaning. I love a clean drivetrain!

With the dirt and grime removed, both front and rear derailleurs are as new again. No evidence of wear. Same can be said for the front chainrings and rear cassette.



Another pic, this time with the chain on. Chain also appears to be in good condition.



Flipped upside down for lubrication and shift checks. Interestingly, despite being completely disassembled and reassembled, everything still lined up and shifted perfectly. The signs of a good system!

Frame is holding up fine too, although there are a few chips from flying rocks and chain abrasions. It happens.

The Sovereign will get a similar service this summer when it's retired for the season.

The Sovereign is also riding well, although the Huret downtube shifters seem to be having trouble holding friction. I have tried some threadlocker to see if it works, we'll see how that holds up. So far so good.
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