A Day Off The Bike

February 22, 2009

I’ve kinda gone nuts with my cycling over the past month and have been falling behind on a few chores that needed to get done so I decided to take the day off the bike yesterday (well, my wife decided it). Unlike most self respecting middle aged blokes, I’m not exactly the handiest guy in the tool shed and therefore don’t frequent Bunnings or Home Depot all that often. However, one thing I needed to do was make a quick trip there to pick up a cheap BBQ cover. I tell you, I walked into this hardware superstore called Bunnings yesterday and my jaw dropped – everywhere I looked all I saw was BIKESHOP! Everywhere I turned there were things that I could make great use of to supplement my cycling addiction. So instead of spending $14.99 on a BBQ cover that I originally came for, I ended up $300 poorer after picking up a few odds and ends. Here’s what my shopping cart was filled with:

1. Simple Green All Purpose Cleaner – great for cleaning the bike and greasy bits. Also great for cleaning the walls, light switches, cupboards, from all the grease and dirt I get all over them.

2. Simple Green Carpet Cleaner – my livingroom carpet is an absolute mess with grease stains from hauling the bike around the house. This stuff always does the trick on those hardcore grease stains.

3. Stan’s Tire Sealant – if you mountain bike or want tubless tires on your road bike, you need this stuff. More on this in an upcoming post…

4. Plumbers tape for sealing the valve stems underneath valve extenders

5 . A roll of those blue rags – for $15 you can have all the disposable rags you need for the year.

6. Tools, tools and more tools. I got a great allen key set and a 15mm spanner for my track bike wheel nuts for next to nothing.

7. Electrical tape for handlebar tape ends. You can get some really funky designs these days.

8. I was looking for CO2 Cartriges for but couldn’t find any. A trip to Walmart is in order.

9. Rubber gloves – I always keep a set of these in my onboard toolkit. All sorts of uses

10. Liquid Plastic for dipping tools and cable ends into (www.plastidip.com )

11. Locktight for all those bolts and spoke nipples you don’t want loosening

12. Zip Ties for putting on those race numbers, storing cassettes, keeping cables tidy, and all sorts of other uses.

13 . An assortment of brushes and sponges for cleaning the bike

14. ArmorAll – if you’re ever selling a bike, bathe it in ArmorAll. It’ll be slippery as hell bit it’ll sparkle like new.

…and on the wishlist:

15. Air compressor – great for blowing all the grit out of those hard to reach areas

16. Pressure washer

17. Stainless steel toolkit (the big one!)

After Bunnings I stopped off at Safeway to get some milk and ended up with a few other goodies:

1. Babywipes . Oh I love my babywipes…

2. Scotch-Brite Pads for cleaning the breaking surface on my wheels. It gets them spotless

4. Citro Clean as a chain degreaser

5. Wisk powdered laundry detergent for getting the stink out of some of those jerseys. If you have any clothes that smell so bad you can’t get the odor out, soak them overnight in the washer with a scoop of Wisk

Ha! There you go. I managed to make my day of chores into a wonderful day of bike shopping! ;-)

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jason

Go to Home Depot or Walmart and buy a litre of chain saw oil and a litre of mineral spirits (paint department). Mix them 50/50. The night before a ride, place one drop per link. Wipe the excess lube off the chain (run the chain backwards through a clean rag) the next morning before you ride.

The mineral spirits acts as a dilutant so that the oil can get to the only place where it can do any good – the chain internals. Then it evaporates leaving the oil behind.

A litre of each of the above will cost you about the same as one dinky bottle of commercial chain lube. Just think – TWO litres of chain lube for under $10! You’ll be giving it away to your riding buddies. I do!

I’ve been using Homebrew for about ten years on road, track and mountain bike and have yet to find a negative.
jason

Go to Home Depot or Walmart and buy a litre of chain saw oil and a litre of mineral spirits (paint department). Mix them 50/50. The night before a ride, place one drop per link. Wipe the excess lube off the chain (run the chain backwards through a clean rag) the next morning before you ride.

The mineral spirits acts as a dilutant so that the oil can get to the only place where it can do any good – the chain internals. Then it evaporates leaving the oil behind.

A litre of each of the above will cost you about the same as one dinky bottle of commercial chain lube. Just think – TWO litres of chain lube for under $10! You’ll be giving it away to your riding buddies. I do!

I’ve been using Homebrew for about ten years on road, track and mountain bike and have yet to find a negative.
jason

Go to Home Depot or Walmart and buy a litre of chain saw oil and a litre of mineral spirits (paint department). Mix them 50/50. The night before a ride, place one drop per link. Wipe the excess lube off the chain (run the chain backwards through a clean rag) the next morning before you ride.

The mineral spirits acts as a dilutant so that the oil can get to the only place where it can do any good – the chain internals. Then it evaporates leaving the oil behind.

A litre of each of the above will cost you about the same as one dinky bottle of commercial chain lube. Just think – TWO litres of chain lube for under $10! You’ll be giving it away to your riding buddies. I do!

I’ve been using Homebrew for about ten years on road, track and mountain bike and have yet to find a negative.
Kevin

If you go to a hobbiest or model train shop you can find a massive selection of touch-up paint for your frame.
Kevin

If you go to a hobbiest or model train shop you can find a massive selection of touch-up paint for your frame.
Kevin

If you go to a hobbiest or model train shop you can find a massive selection of touch-up paint for your frame.
James

Go to the hooks section and find a wide array of excellent racks for your bikes for the garage, even ones for your helmet, like in the shops!!!
James

Go to the hooks section and find a wide array of excellent racks for your bikes for the garage, even ones for your helmet, like in the shops!!!
James

Go to the hooks section and find a wide array of excellent racks for your bikes for the garage, even ones for your helmet, like in the shops!!!
http://mellowvelo.wordpress.com/ Katherine

Home Depot, WalMart and Safeway? I thought you lived in Australia, but it sounds more like you live in the US!
http://mellowvelo.wordpress.com/ Katherine

Home Depot, WalMart and Safeway? I thought you lived in Australia, but it sounds more like you live in the US!
http://mellowvelo.wordpress.com Katherine

Home Depot, WalMart and Safeway? I thought you lived in Australia, but it sounds more like you live in the US!
cyclingtips

yes…I live in Australia but 75% of the readers come from the US and Canada so I try to use lingo that everyone will understand. The Aussies will get it since we get American TV all the time.

We have BigW instead of Walmart, Bunnings instead of Home Depot and Safeway has made it all the way over here! If we could just get a Costco I’d be very happy
cyclingtips

yes…I live in Australia but 75% of the readers come from the US and Canada so I try to use lingo that everyone will understand. The Aussies will get it since we get American TV all the time.

We have BigW instead of Walmart, Bunnings instead of Home Depot and Safeway has made it all the way over here! If we could just get a Costco I’d be very happy
cyclingtips

yes…I live in Australia but 75% of the readers come from the US and Canada so I try to use lingo that everyone will understand. The Aussies will get it since we get American TV all the time.

We have BigW instead of Walmart, Bunnings instead of Home Depot and Safeway has made it all the way over here! If we could just get a Costco I’d be very happy