Thursday, August 03, 2023

Preparation Winter '23: Ti Muk 2

The Ti Muk 2 before....
 I mentioned a while back that Winter preparations have begun at G-Ted Headquarters. My first order of business was to look over the Blackborow DS. That didn't take much, but I do need to replace the chain yet. That will wait until I get my hands on a new one.

So i moved on to my Ti Muk 2. This is the bike with the Rohloff Speed Hub. I needed to do some basic cleaning and checking,plus figure out what to do about my rear mud guard. 

I was pretty sure the bike would be needing sealant. So, I hung the bike in my stand, turned the wheels until each valve stem was at the "six o'clock" position, and then I let that sit awhile so to allow the sealant, if any, to pool at the bottom of the tires. Once that set a while I came back and checked to find - you guessed it - nothing. Not a whiff of wet sealant at all. 

Soooo..... WTB sealant went in and then I aired up the tires. Now a little bit of cleaning. then it was time to remove that eyesore of a rear mudguard and see about finding something else that might work. 

.....and after I got done working on it Wednesday.

There are all sorts of solutions out there which range from about 20 bucks to over 300 bucks. I think I'll keep looking, and I also think I can make something myself that is simple. We will see. I do know that I like the look of the bike a lot more without fenders but around here you have to have them for Winter commuting. 

But otherwise I am good to go now with that bike. My next subject is the Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross rig which I am going to "de-Winter-fy" as I am not planning on using that bike for Winter duties at all. But it does have fenders and I want to remove those. More on that soon...

2 comments:

Matt Boulanger said...

I'd love to hear more about your fender options! I have a commuterized Blackborow and have been contemplating my options, all the way to steam bending some wooden ones for myself!

Guitar Ted said...

@Matt Boulanger - Perhaps I should write up a post on the available options and their plusses and minuses. I'm sure if I did people would comment then about the five other fender options I missed! :>)