If you've been riding in the rain (as most of us have at this time of year), chances are the inside of your bottom bracket looks like this:

Even when the outside of your bike looks clean (as this Seven did), water finds its way into the bearings.  There it displaces the grease and causes rust.  The rust wears the bearings out, making the cranks harder to turn and slowing you down.  Yuck! 

Bottom brackets should be pulled out during the winter, cleaned, and regreased.  Even the new cartridge units need this type of service, since the water will get in eventually despite the better seals! 

We'll be offering a wide variety of workshops and classes in the upcoming months.  Registration will be through Bainbridge Island Parks & Rec, and space in each program is limited - so sign up early! 

Upcoming classes include:

Basic Bike Mechanics: Wheels & Brakes
    Fixing flats, patching tubes, brake adjustments, and the basics of wheel maintenance.  Class is hands-on, with lots of individual attention and practice. 
Sunday mornings, 9:00am-11:30am
1/15, 2/19, and 5/6

Basic Bike Mechanics: Drivetrains
    Adjusting shifting, lubricating chains, understanding all the parts involved.  Class is hands-on, and the variety of participants bikes will serve as a general education on the differences between drivetrain systems. 
Sunday mornings, 9:00am-11:30am
3/4

Bike Mechanics: Open Workshop
    Here by popular demand, an unstructured workshop.  Intended for more advanced mechanics, each student will bring their own project.  Hands on instruction and tools will be provided to accomplish each task, and students will have the opportunity to learn by watching each others work. 
Sunday mornings, 9:00am-11:30am
3/11, 5/13

Bike Mechanics: Custom Wheelbuilding
    Also here by popular demand, this three part class will cover the entire wheelbuilding process.  Students will hear a lecture on wheel design, plan and select parts (1st meeting), then lace the wheel (2nd meeting), and finally tension and true the wheel (3rd and final meeting).  Riding on a wheel you built yourself is a special experience! 
Sunday mornings, 9:00am-11:30am
1/22 - 2/5 - 2/12

Does your chain look like this one?  Rust happens quickly in the Northwest, especially when salt water is close by.  One day of riding in winter weather without lube on the chain can result in surface rust. 

This looks pretty bad, and if you let it continue to get worse, it would wear parts out quickly, but the good news is that it doesn't take much effort to improve it.  When a bike comes in with a chain in this condition, we just lube it - it doesn't even need to be cleaned first if you do it correctly. 

Using your favorite chain lube (we like Dumonde Tech), put a drop on each chain roller of the exposed part of the chain between the bottom of the derailleur cage and the bottom of the front chainrings (the lower portion of the chain in the photo above).  The rollers are the cylindrical bits in the center of each link.  Then, without moving the chain yet, work that lube in by hand by rolling the rollers (wear gloves if you don't want to get messy) and then wipe off any excess with a rag or paper towel.  Advance the chain and do the next section.  Repeat until you've done the whole thing (you'll be able to tell where you started by how much cleaner the chain will look).  By doing it this way, rather than just squirting lube on the chain while rotating it backward, you clean the chain in the process, get the lube where it really needs to be inside the rollers, and avoid over-lubricating it, which ends up attracting too much dirt and grit which just wears everything out faster.  The result should look like this:

The surface rust will have disappeared, and the chain should be clean and well-lubed! 

We found this video made by Volagi, which does a great job of explaining how to keep your mechanical disc brakes in adjustment:

With winter coming on, we'll all be testing our brakes.  Discs are much better in wet conditions than rim brakes, but they still have to be set up correctly!