…bicycle. I’ve had a fantastic Ridgeback Envoy folding bike for about a year now, which saw daily use for my commute in Guildford, and not really anything since then. I’ve been wanting a mountain bike (well, a hybrid ideally) ever since I moved in at Langley Park – one of the long off-road sections of the National Cycle Network passes about 50m from my house, and I’ve wanted to be exploring it.
I had a mountain bike while I was at uni, but when I finished and we had no bike rack, I just left it in the bike sheds and gave my sister the key, since she was intending to use it… but she never did. I assumed it was gone, but last week I went down to check for sure – and it was still there! In a complete state, maybe, but intact and unmolested, which was fantastic.
I spent some satisfying mornings (I’ve started working late nights, so I’m not at work until 2) last week doing it up – and it’s nearly finished. The plan is to have another boys camping/cycling trip in the Peak District at some point after Easter – we’ve already got a car camping trip planned for Easter weekend booked in, which will be ace.
I started by cleaning it all down with hot water and a microfibre cloth, as well as a special bike cleaning brush/tool, which was great for getting in to nooks and crannies around the drivechain. It hadn’t even seen a drop of lubricant for the best part of 3 years, so after thoroughly cleaning all of that, I oiled it up really really well with a teflon based oil.
I changed the brake cables for new ones, resurfaced my brake pads, re aligned the brakes, and eventually got everything back together. I took off the stickers for the ninja look, and took it for a pretty successful test ride.
If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s gripshift gear changers… so I’ve bought some trigger style ones to replace them, new grips, a suspended seatpost for a little comfort, and a few other things. Once all that arrives, I should be good to go on a few longer trips, which will be fantastic… great to have a bike again. If you’ve got a free weekend, get it out of the shed, give it a clean up and take a bit of a ride 
Looks great! Especially after taking off the stickers.
I’m useless at riding somewhere for the sake of it, I need a reason to go somewhere, but cycling to Slimelight worked fine last week, and to Camden for a gig yesterday.
Thanks!
It’s more fun in a twosome, to be honest, with a picnic or pub lunch in the middle