Bicycle Maintenance

This weekend, I had a chance to do a little out of the ordinary bicycle maintenance.  I consider normal maintenance to be simply cleaning the bike and lubricating the chain.

I have not had power feedback for my June 30^th or July 7^th ride.  On the 30^th, I needed to replace the PowerTap head unit battery, but did not make time.  This battery lasts about a month.  If I do a hard reset by installing the battery upside down for about 4 hours prior to replacing, it will last a little longer.  On the 7^th, I thought I was ready to go, but I was not getting signal from the hub.  As they were the original batteries (good for 250-300 hours), I correctly deduced that the hub batteries needed to be changed.  YouTube was the best resource for how to change the hub battery.  This was surprisingly easy and the hub worked just fine for my Sunday ride.  I am curious to see how long the new batteries last.  I used 357 button cells rather than the EPX76 Silver Oxide batteries that were installed in the hub.

As astute readers may recall, I had my rear derailleur serviced on May 3^rd.  It again was shifting lousy the past few days and this time, I was ready to give it a go myself.  As the cable had been replaced, I simply tightened up the barrel about one and a quarter full turns.  It still felt a little loose, but was shifting just fine.  There is a little rub on the 24 tooth sprocket, but it was not such a problem that I want to go back to the shop.  As finicky as a cable actuated derailleur can be, I still lust for a servo based system.