Maintenance day...

The trip to Mumsies went pretty well. The kids weren't travel sick and although we were held up on the M5 between Junc 2 and 1 and onto the M6 for an hour Friday evening they slept!


Today was about bike maintenance though.


Just look at the state of my poor commuter...

The result of 3 weeks of road salt, oily road grime, canal mud and goose shit. Also the flat rear after Thursday evening's blow out.
















It needed a new rear tyre and tube, a drivetrain strip down, degrease and clean and general fettling. That was after a thorough jetwash to get rid of all of the gunk. I know there's an opinion on not jetwashing, but if you're careful and avoid bearings you'll be ok. I've always jetwashed bikes and never had a problem.

During the very dirty deed...

To finish up I gave my Brooks saddle some leather treatment and a polish. 

Below is the finished article after 2 hours work.

She is very frayed around the edges now, 20 years of putting up with me it is pretty understandable. I also sorted wifey's Specialized Rockhopper out too. She's threatening to restart pedalling too!

Video of my blow out. Listen for the bang!