Bike lubing

 I'd had it on my list of things to do for over a month. Earlier in the spring/summer, we'd gone for a bike ride and Jane said her shifter wouldn't change gears. She has a Linus bike with an internal-hub 7 speed. Naturally, I procrastinated because... "internal hub." I figured it was beyond me to repair.

We finally got it to work in one gear. I kept it on my list of things to do, but... you know how that goes.

Well, Monday she wanted to ride her bike to work. Her office recently moved to a new location which is much closer than her old office. It is 2.5 miles from our house by car, and 3.5 miles by bicycle via the river greenway path. Wouldn't you know it, when she went to leave, the shifter wouldn't work again.

She ended up taking my bike, and I went out right away and started looking her bike over (still in my pajamas).

I pulled up a Youtube video on Shimano shifters that won't change gears. Oh... it seemed like a simple enough fix. They said the old lube was likely hardened and gunked up and that's what was keeping it from moving. So...

I removed one screw, popped the cap off the bottom of the shifter (after loosening the whole assembly and turning it upside down), sprayed it with some PB Blaster penetrating oil, let it sit, dried it off, shot it with some compressed air to remove particles and further dry, then sprayed it with the WD40 chain lube. Now it works like a charm!

Chain lube probably isn't the best thing to use on the shifter, but google says it's okay as long as it's not too thick. I just gave it a light spray.

While I was at it, I sprayed down the chain and sprockets too. I went ahead and did my bike as well. So, we are rolling smooth and good to go!!

This morning we both rode our bikes to her office. It took us 24 minutes together. I raced home and made it in something like 17 minutes. I drove the car there later and it took 6 1/2 minutes. Not sure why it still takes her a half hour regardless of car or bike... 🤷