22F this morning with a light headwind.Still a bit of ice on the ground but I couldn't wait any longer to take my old hybrid out for its inaugural ride after the complete rebuild over the winter.

Every part was disassembled, cleaned, lubed, and adjusted. New seat, handlebars, grips/wrap, brake levers, brake pads, bottom bracket, crank, chain, cassette, jockey wheels and all cables. After thousands of miles it was overdue for some TLC. It rides like a brand new bike again.

Spent almost $500 on a bike I initially bought new for $199 (big sale). Doesn't seem to make financial sense, but I decided I liked the bike well enough to justify sinking some money into it. I could have spent the same money on a new bike but who knows if I would have liked it as much. Over $300 of the money I spent was on the Brooks saddle and the Jones H Loop bar setup, so those were more splurge items (and a new bike wouldn't have come with those.)

As long as I was replacing every item on the chain line with brand-new non-greasy parts, I decided it was a good time to try the crock-pot wax method of chain lubrication to see how I like it. The chain was running pretty quiet, and when I got to work I could touch all the components and not have any grease on my hands, so I like that. One thing I did notice is that as I was out in the cold winter air the wax stiffened up and some of the links were a little sticky. So it may not be the best winter riding option. Today was just the initial ride so I haven't formed any long term opinions about wax lube yet.