Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1462:

It was actually on the cool side this morning at 61°F. After the heat wave we've been experiencing for the last month it almost made the air feel chilly. Once I got warmed up though it was about the perfect temp.

I spent most of Saturday rebuilding my road bike, which I had let go far too long without doing a whole bunch of needed maintenance. I wound up replacing the bottom bracket, chain, cassette, front and rear brake pads, rear shift cable (frayed at the front brifter and only had two strands left holding it together!), brifter covers (had worn holes in the old ones!) and bar tape. Gave the bike a much needed scrubbing while I had it all apart as well.

I'm still having an occasional noise and vibration that will show up, usually on descents over 20 mph. It will only happen about once per day. I will suddenly hear a muffled buzzing noise that sounds like something is rubbing against my tire (nothing is) and I will feel a resonance in my handlebars. As I slow down and drop below 5 mph the noise will stop, making it tough to diagnose the problem as I can't recreate it when I'm not riding. My gut says front wheel bearing, but I'm not having the typical "click" that a worn wheel bearing normally makes. There's no lateral play in either the front or rear wheel. My hubs have sealed bearings, so I'm not sure if there's any good way to fix the issue other than replacement. And I'm not sure paying someone to re-lace the existing rim onto a new hub would be any cheaper than just buying a whole new wheel.

It is supposed to rain today between 9 and 2. I wanted to try out my newly refurbished bike, so rather than taking my hybrid with fenders I decided to risk the weather. If the weather forecast holds true, it should be dry by the time I ride home. If not, well then I guess I'm cleaning the bike again.

The rebuilt bike rode great. The last couple of months shifting the rear derailleur had become difficult. Single gear shifts in either direction rarely happened, and I usually had to click the shifter multiple times to get the chain to swap cogs, leaving the highest and lowest gears pretty much unusable. It felt amazing to click the brifter once and have the bike immediately go to the next gear without any coaxing.

Front shifts also became much improved, which I attribute to the new bottom bracket as the old one was worn so bad I could see the chainring wiggling 1/8" back and forth with each rotation. Without that play, the shifts happened so fast and silently that the first time it actually startled me.

I also hadn't realized how bad the brakes had become, as brake wear happens so gradually that you tend not to notice. All four pads had worn past the wear marks. The new pads grab the rim a lot more aggressively (but reassuringly) compared to the old ones.

Was really enjoying the ride when about 1/2 mile from the office my rear derailleur shifted all the way down into the highest gear, and trying to change gears just resulted in a "click" with no resistance. I finished the ride by muscling the bike in the highest gear. Once I got to the office I inspected things and saw that my new cable had come loose where it connects to the derailleur. Should be a simple fix that I can take care of before I hit the road to go home.