Day 2: cleaning.

I spent most of the morning and some of the afternoon in the workshop cleaning up all the components that I will be putting back on the bike. The first things to be cleaned were the shocks. Trek decided that it would be a good idea to put arguably the worst shock absorbers ever produced on this model of bike. The repair book I am using says that most shocks "these days" were either oil or air shock absorbers. "These days" refers to when Clinton was still The President. I bought this bike new in 2004, and these shocks are spring--not air or oil--springs. Thanks Trek.

To clean the shocks, I placed them in a bucket of hot water and CLR and let them sit for about an hour. I then took them out and scrubbed them with a wire brush for 30 or 40 minutes. It was very difficult to get ALL the grime and stuff off, but i removed the vast majority of it.

What the shock coils looked like before cleaning

nasty.

Here is the finished product. I think they came out nicely.

I also cleaned out the fork and the tubes in which these coils reside with lots of CLR, degreaser and fresh oil. I put it all back together and it works!

Here is the partially assembled unit. I'm keeping all the components in bags with oil for now until its time to rebuild the bike.

Oh, and here is the CLR bath after I finished cleaning the parts. Keep in mind it was clean/clear water when I started

After the shocks I dismantled the rear derailleur and began to clean it. It was nearly seized and needed a thorough scrubbing to get moving again. Some wd40 and some Teflon lube and it looks like new. The rear derailleur serves 2 functions, it moves the chain on the rear cassette, changing the gearing and it keep the chain taught.

before being cleaned.

being scrubbed--look how black that brush is

This string/hair/wtf was underneath the washer, I feel like this had something to do with the lack of movement.

Rebuilt and back together.

The last thing on the agenda today was to pick up the frame from the bike store. I had them remove the crown, bottom bracket and crank set. The frame is now totally stripped and I'll take it to the painters some time this week. The bottom bracket is rusted and needs to be replaced, and I am going to need a new crank set. This only fuels my love of buying junk online. I spent the rest of today getting as much of the rust off the frame as possible, before they sandblast it. I know the sand will get rid of the surface rust, but there is a lot of stuff on the inside of the tubes and some deeper rust that might not be removed.

D came out and snapped a few pictures of me working/AWing.

sanding

Oh, and Ike spent the entire day putting his ball in every possible nook and cranny of the shop, and then preceding to whine about losing it.

Next up is getting the bike painted and assembling all the necessary components for the rebuilding.