Adventures in bicycle repair

Bar tape, originally uploaded by KC-Bike.

Most of the work has been done on The Twelve. Here's a sneak peek of its new handlebar tape, but you can see the new brake hoods, cables, and cable housings as well.

Believe it or not, I've never had the levers off of a road bike before, nor have I had the (ahem) pleasure of running new cable housings for STI brakes or shifters. While the bike was under warranty, I had the cables (but not the housings) replaced and I watched while it was done. I'm also pretty good at grokking mechanical things without referencing manuals.

Still, this was an interesting and fun project. The hoods were totally trashed, and it took an experienced bike wrench a few weeks to find the right parts to replace them. They were kind of a pain in the butt to replace. The housings, bar tape, cables and all of that can be replaced without tearing the levers off the handlebars, but not the brake hoods. They're also a pretty tight fit, but they are indeed the correct ones. They look and feel AWESOME.

This bike came with black tape from the factory. When I replaced that a few years ago, I went with black and white zebra stripes. This time, I'm going black-on-red. It still matches the theme of The Twelve's Black, White, Red and Brushed Aluminum motif.

Also up are well-past-due replacements of the chain and cassette. The new brake pads went on last month.

Aside from headset bearings and a new bottom bracket, this seems like a total overhaul. And when I need a new BB, I think commuterDude has me convinced to drink the square taper kool-aid and get a new crankset to go with it.

I also picked up a really cheapo wireless cyclometer for Frank. Aside from lacking a cadence sensor, It's got more functions than the $80 wired Trek Incite 11i that got stolen with Hybridzilla back in '08, including a backlight and thermometer, both of which are pretty handy for those cold, dark winter rides.