The other day I added the replacement 24 and 50 tooth chain rings and the front derailleur became a problem to adjust. The range is just too wide. The best I can adjust it is to rattle on the 24T plus upper cluster gears and the 50T plus lowest gear. Rattling is really annoying. This drops out 4 gears giving me really about 19 distinct gears.
While I was working on it I noticed how disgustingly gunky the chain and rear derailleur was. After many repeated baths in natural oil and standard degreaser and hot water it finally returned to its steel color. Then the cluster looked aweful. So, I disassembled the cage and two little wheels. At last I sprayed down the cluster with natural oil cleaner and water baths until it returned to a nice shiny chrome color.
To prevent rust I placed all the removed components in the oven as low as it would go. It should be weather resistant, but there’s no reason to sit in so much water after I made sure it got soaked all the way through.
Next, I’ll oil the saddle and she should be ready for the road. The next ride up is Seattle to Portland in mid-July. I haven’t been able to ride since the bike trip a month ago and I’m feelin’ it. The first week my knee was too hurt, then preparing for my party, then bike parts arrived and the weather turned crummy. It’s still crummy. Maybe, one or two days have been ridable in the past two weeks. Most of it is wind. Really extreme wind conditions lately.
Time to get ready to go.