Lots of jobs to do

Amongst today's work was a full bike check,fitting new tyres and bartape on a nice Giant in readiness for a customer's C2C ride next week. The tyres were Armadillos - great for not puncturing but they are a pain to fit as they are very tight and inflexible - I think I need three pairs of hands. Next job was fitting new bottom bracket cups, adjusting gears and disk brake pads on a well-used XT specced moutain bike. It's important to ensure the pistons are pushed back carefully when fitting the new pads to make sure the piston doesn't twist and jam as you do so. If you don't push them back then you prbably won't get the new pads in and certainly not the wheel. And for good measure started on bringing a bike back to life which has gathered dust for over 4 years in a customer's garage. It's a really nice bike made from 531 tubing and with Campagnolo kit on it so well worth the new tyres & tubes and re-greasing all the bearings which have dried out. Our only problem with it is the stem expander wedge is seized up in the fork tube at the moment - this is often a problem when bikes are left unserviced for a long time - so lots of penetrating lube overnight and we'll see if it will budge in the morning!