Friday, June 1, 2007
Lube
I don't have experience with a lot of chain lubes, but I can tell you that ProLink is the best I've used by far. Most of my experience is with wet lubes (Finish Line in particular). The ProLink is so much cleaner! My chain looks brand new most of the time. I've only been using it for a few weeks, but I expect that I will convert all my chains to this lube. Check it out: ProLink.
Identity Crisis
It's no surprise to me that my Salsa Casseroll is having an identity crisis. It's not a lightweight speed demon. It's not quite a touring bike. I guess you could pretty well peg it as a do-it-all commuter. Anyhow, there are a lot of things that factor in to what kind of bike it is.
I decided that I wanted to try some bigger rubber, so I swapped the Krylion Carbon tires for a set of Panaracer T-Servs (700x32). So far I'm quite pleased with them. They run at 95 psi and they don't seem to be slowing me down at all. They roll over broken glass with no worries and they take the bumps better than the Michelins. Unfortunately they don't specify a pressure range, so running them with less air seems to be a bad idea. I'm looking forward to taking it down the Greenway to see how they do offroad. I like knowing that I can tackle some dirt if I feel like it.
As an experiment I put an old Pletscher rack on it that I had picked up at a garage sale for one U.S dollar. I dig the old Swiss rack, even though it appears to be a bit lightweight for any kind of touring. It turns out that I haven't even had an occasion to use it, so I think it's going to come back off for now. I think I'm going to have to invest in a nice Tubus rack if I want to do any touring. Those Tubus racks look really nice and it seems like they would go great with my Ortlieb panniers.
I finally picked up a nice set of silver SKS fenders the other day. Then I realized that I had to mailorder a Problem Solvers brake nut set in order to install them properly. If you have brakes that have a recessed nut then you run the risk of not being able to install the fenders properly. I was glad that Harris Cyclery had what I needed, but I ended up paying almost $20 with the shipping. That turned my $40 fenders into $60 fenders. I hope I end up riding in the rain a lot! I haven't mounted them yet, but I trust they are going to look like they belong on the bike. Just testing them out it looks like there is going to be very little room between the tire and the fender, which will look nice. I just hope I don't have all kinds of crap getting jammed up in between.
I decided that I wanted to try some bigger rubber, so I swapped the Krylion Carbon tires for a set of Panaracer T-Servs (700x32). So far I'm quite pleased with them. They run at 95 psi and they don't seem to be slowing me down at all. They roll over broken glass with no worries and they take the bumps better than the Michelins. Unfortunately they don't specify a pressure range, so running them with less air seems to be a bad idea. I'm looking forward to taking it down the Greenway to see how they do offroad. I like knowing that I can tackle some dirt if I feel like it.
As an experiment I put an old Pletscher rack on it that I had picked up at a garage sale for one U.S dollar. I dig the old Swiss rack, even though it appears to be a bit lightweight for any kind of touring. It turns out that I haven't even had an occasion to use it, so I think it's going to come back off for now. I think I'm going to have to invest in a nice Tubus rack if I want to do any touring. Those Tubus racks look really nice and it seems like they would go great with my Ortlieb panniers.
I finally picked up a nice set of silver SKS fenders the other day. Then I realized that I had to mailorder a Problem Solvers brake nut set in order to install them properly. If you have brakes that have a recessed nut then you run the risk of not being able to install the fenders properly. I was glad that Harris Cyclery had what I needed, but I ended up paying almost $20 with the shipping. That turned my $40 fenders into $60 fenders. I hope I end up riding in the rain a lot! I haven't mounted them yet, but I trust they are going to look like they belong on the bike. Just testing them out it looks like there is going to be very little room between the tire and the fender, which will look nice. I just hope I don't have all kinds of crap getting jammed up in between.
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