All this is sort of obvious, perhaps. But sometimes it's good to state both the new and the obvious.

I did some maintenance yesterday and some riding today. I wanted to clean and lube the RD (a VGT-Luxe) pulleys on my commuter UO8. In the process I noticed a lot of grit on the chain that was new this spring. So I thought, what's the best way to clean this quickly? Ah, slosh it around in a small tub of automatic transmission fluid. Bingo! Then I sloshed it around in a small tub of gear/differential oil. It took a lot of draining and wiping to get the excess oil off, but now it is clean and quiet. Of course, another lesson is that that when you ride enough on dirty roads the drivetrain is going to get dirty. Last Thursday they were cleaning one of the roads I commute on and I thanked the crew and gave them a thumbs-up. The shoulder was starting to look like a beach.

Then today I took the much lighter Raleigh Gran Sport out for some recreation riding. Haven't had the chance to do that much this year. Wow, a lighter bike really does go faster. Or at least it feels faster. I'd forgotten what it felt like. Also not having the aerodynamic drag of panniers makes a difference. Also a lot of riding makes you stronger. There's a hill I have to climb about two miles from the house. It's not difficult but it's a chore. Today it seemed trivial.

Simple lessons, re-learned.

Jim, you just proved, "Old dogs can relearn their old tricks!

Just think how ready you will be to tackle the NH mountains again this fall.

Mountains.....??? WHat's a mountain???

Sorry, Mike, I couldn't resist.

Mountains? The world looks flat from here. Or maybe round if you squint your eyes the right way.

No better view than from the top of Cadillac Mountain!

You guys probably have more seasons than we do here in Georgia. We have two... "Summer" and "Not Quite Summer"!

But to Lessons Learned:

Culture a relationship with your LBS owner.
I learned this recently as I was shopping for parts to build up my 650b Kogswell. I have been doing business with this shop for the last 4 years or so, and the guys have come to know my tastes in bikes. They do not like to deal with any sort of vintage or even moderately old gear, so they usually hate doing special orders for parts that aren't in the mainstream of what the racer boyz want.

So when the owner tired of looking stuff up in his price catalogs, he told me to just find what I wanted... write it on the order sheets... and he'd sell the stuff to me at his cost as listed in the books.

Well... lemme tell you. That was an eye opener. Not only was his cost remarkably low, but there is stuff available in those supplier catalogs that I thought was only available online or through Rivendell or Velo Orange.

Examples of prices for NEW parts:
Brooks B17 saddle - $53
VO Porteur Rack (this rack is $160 direct from VO) - $90
Shimano XT rear hub - $48
SRAM X0 alloy spider cassette - $60
ESGE Pletscher dual leg kickstand - $28
Zefal HPx frame pump - $18

So yeah... get in good with your LBS owner. Saved me many hundreds of dollars on just this one build.

If it's 85-90W hypoid oil, you're a brave man for dealing voluntarily with that foul smelling devilment . I only deal with it on absolute as-needed basis with vehicles.

*Jealous*

Best view ever.

+10.

I happened to have it around because of the transmission in pieces on my garage floor. But I don't mind the smell. I figure it was designed for low temperature but high pressure applications, and a bike chain would fit that description. We'll see how it holds up.

Yeah, it is pretty, inn'it? Those white specs over the "C" in "Cadillac" are monster cruise ships. From lower down the mountain they looked like this: