The Golden Wrench

A blog about bicycle repair and maintenance by the mechanics at Freewheel Bike.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Morningstar Lectric Lube Follow Up

I received a follow up report from the winner of the Morningstar Lectric Lube from the "Winterizing Stephen's Bike - Part 2, 2/17/09" blog. http://freewheelbike.com/articles/service-blog-archives-pg482.htm

Here is what he had to say after testing the Lectric Lube in his hubs;

"Hands down a better lube in the winter than the Phil Wood. I like Phil
and it's what I've always used in my hubs but even the tenacious oil in
a freehub body gets too sticky in the winter. The wheel was put on the
green machine and it has no delay. The problem I was having before was
that the pawls wouldn't "spring" into place due to the temp and the Phil
lube getting too thick (it's not fun to pedal forward and have your
freehub body not hook up..). At first I thought it was a little too thin
but ultimately it makes sense for the extreme temps we have. Definitely
worth it, especially if you ride in MN winters. _teej_"

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Park Tool Digital Caliper Review

The Park Tool digital caliper has the unique ability to display measurements is fractions of inches as well as inches in decimals and mm in decimals. This picture shows the caliper measuring a Freehweel Bike logo at 1 1/2".

Cateye Headlight


This old Cateye headlight still works.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Servicing A Shimano Freehub

Do your pedals spin freely (without engaging the rear wheel) when it gets really cold? We have the solution: Morningstar 'Lectric Lube. This waterproof grease maintains its workable consistency down to -49 degrees F. Here's a quick overview of the winterization process for a Shimano freehub.


Remove the freehub body from the hub shell.


Remove the seal from the back side.


Remove the dust cap.


Install the Morningstar Freehub Buddy.


Purge the old grease out.


Decide if you want to try to replace the old dust cap or install a new Morningstar dust cap.


Install the dust cap.


Re-assemble the hub. Done.