The Bike is Ready

Last month I turned 50,000 miles on my bike and did some extra maintenance besides the usual oil and filter change.  I also cleaned the air filter, changed the coolant and the fork oil, and checked the valve adjustment and the front sprocket for wear.  I have checked the valve adjustment three times now and have not needed to change any adjustment shims.  These bikes apparently have a very stable valve actuating system.  This is good news because it means Jenny's bike, with over 30,000 miles and only one valve check, is probably good to go without one.  If you have to pay somebody to do this job, like she would, it will cost over $300.  It's a pretty tedious process.

I estimate the distance I will ride on this trip to be about 2000 miles, and my bike currently has 51,500, so I will not be due for another oil and filter change before I get back home.  What I would be due for, and worried might be over-due for, was a new rear tire.  I had 7,200 on the current one, and I normally get between 8 and 10 thousand miles on a rear tire.  That would be cutting it close, so I decided to mount a new rear tire, which pains me because the current one still has quite a  bit of tread and my normal penny-pinching brain hates to see good rubber go to waste.  So I saved the old take- off with the idea of someday re-mounting it and getting the rest of the wear out of it.  That means I have TWO take-off's sitting around because the same thing happened before my ride with Jenny in the spring.

The problem with saving these tires is that changing a tire can be such a hassle that it isn't worth having to do it more often by using already worn tires.......certainly if you have to pay somebody $50 or so to do it.  However, I've gotten pretty good at changing tires myself, so I think I will eventually decide to use them.

So I'm ready to go with a new rear tire:

 And just for the heck of it, I changed the front also.  It was actually pretty worn on the left side because I do better in most left-hand turns.  This is for two reasons; one is that right hand curves  in the mountains often are blind turns because of an embankment or trees that hide what is around the corner, and secondly because the consequences of running wide and crossing the center line in a right hand curve can be much more serious. 

I have to show you the latest modification to my bike.  I got this from my friend Ross, who I have been riding with for almost 25 years.  He is, I think, 83 years old and he is still riding.  I'm hoping to at least match his record.

We leave on Thursday, the 19th, and the car, bike, and trailer (and me) are ready to go.  Carolyn is doing her normal fantastic job of organizing lodging and visits with family and she has that done too.
Some examples: