For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on a friend’s bicycle. His life has been chaotic between starting a business and finishing up some classwork. There were occasions where he mentioned bike riding, but that his bicycle needed work first.

I enjoy maintenance so I offered to pick up his bike and see what I could do. I only asked him to pay for any parts. He was not in a rush, so it gave me plenty of time to tinker and evaluate whether replacement parts were needed.

Earlier in my life, I always wanted a project car. I especially wanted an old Jeep, like a Jeep CJ5 or CJ7. This dream hasn’t come to fruition for a variety of reasons. Project cars are messy and take up a lot of space. I don’t have the garage capacity for all the tools and supplies. Not to mention, old Jeeps have shot up in price since I was younger.

For me, bicycles are a great alternative. They only need a small corner of the garage. There are few fluids to store and dispose of. Parts are cheap. Best of all, bicycles are so simple that cleaning and adjustment are often all that’s needed.

The bicycle is an extra-large Kona Dew Plus. It rides on 650B tires with flat bars and a Shimano Acera drivetrain. The bike’s components, along with its’ copper paint scheme, identify it as a 2020 model year. The rear of the bicycle has a Topeak rack which was installed years ago.  

The triple crankset (front gear) is interesting to see. Triples are rare to see now, but I like the wide range of gear ratios which they provide.

Before I even rolled the bicycle into my garage, I washed the Kona with water and dish soap. I think the bicycle had been living in a hot shed. Our desert environment fosters spiders like Brown Recluses and Black Widows, so, although I didn’t see any, I wasn’t taking any chances.

Diluted Dawn dish soap works great for washing bicycles, but I’m careful to avoid the brake discs. I don’t know whether the dish soap would leave a film on the discs, but I don’t want to find out. Film causes squeaky brakes.

As I dried the bicycle’s frame and wheels, I saw life returning to it. It would not take much work to return the bicycle to the road.

The Panaracer tires clearly succumbed to the heat a long time ago. I put enough air into the tires to allow the bike to roll. However, based upon the amount of dry rot and tire delamination, I didn’t trust the tires enough to fully inflate them.

A few turns of the torque wrench brought the kickstand from wobbly to sturdy. Cleaning the oily dirt from the wheels made them look new. Old accessories, which were dry rotted and faded, were removed.

I cleaned off the chain, wiped down the bottom bracket (axle which connects the pedals together), and carefully degreased the gears. After a fresh application of Motorex chain oil, I assessed the bicycle’s shifting on the repair stand. It was good as new!

A few days later, new tires arrived. I prefer tires from manufacturers like Schwalbe, Continental, and Michelin. These are hard to find at local bike shops, so I ordered a set of Michelin Country Rock tires from Portland-based Bike Tires Direct, along with Continental inner tubes. The Michelins were easy to install and dramatically improved the Kona’s appearance.

I also noticed that the bicycle’s bell was seized. A bell is a great thing to have when you’re riding along the canals, so I wanted to see if it could be repaired. Sure enough, the bell returned to life after I flushed it with isopropyl alcohol. I also sprayed a quick blast of Gear Hugger inside the bell before reinstalling it.

One thing which I did not do was bleed the brakes. The brakes still had good feeling in the lever, and they were running quietly. Most importantly, I’m not comfortable bleeding Tektros. I used to have them installed on my eBike and, no matter what I did, I could not get all the air out of the brake lines. It was best for me not to touch them on someone else’s bicycle.

Happy with the bike’s condition, I test rode it around the cul-de-sac to confirm that it was shifting, braking, and riding smoothly. Everything worked greatly! It was satisfying to see how quickly this simple machine was returned to operation. The only cost was new tubes and tires.