The saddle on my Basso had broken so that needed replacing. I had a spare saddle which I could use for now, but then I discovered that the Allen bolt on the saddle clamp had rounded off. It was a cheap old seatpost, so I was not too bothered about that, except for it leaving me with another problem. Then I remembered that I had a spare seatpost in my junk/spares box. Fingers crossed that the diameter was right ... It was! So, that was the seating sorted out.
The other problem with the bike was that the transmission had started squeaking, rumbling and feeling rough on my hard century ride last Friday. I thought that the bottom bracket or chain might be dying on me. In fact, the problem was that my experiment of lubing the chain with chain saw oil was a gloopy failure - the thick oil was a dirt magnet! I cleaned 90% of the muck from the chain while it was on the bike, then took it off and got most of the rest off using degreaser, cotton buds, rags and an old toothbrush. I also took the rear mech. to bits and degunked and lubed the jockey wheels, and cleaned the cassette and chainrings.
Oh, and I also scrubbed the wheelrims. Braking on my long ride had been a bit iffy at times. It felt like the rims had got some greasy/oily deposits on them.
I just went out and did a hilly 40-miler and the bike felt transformed! It was much quieter, the gear changing was slicker, and I could swear that the pedalling was easier. (In reality, I doubt that I could really sense the reduced friction in the drivetrain, but it sounded more efficient!
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PS I did another hilly ride today and my bum is starting to complain - the spare saddle was a spare saddle for a reason! I must buy a replacement and donate this one to someone with narrower sit bones ...
