After discovering my bike chain was worn yesterday, I have also been looking at other parts of the bike.  I decided that I needed a clean drivetrain, for my upcoming race at Musselman.  With the race less than two weeks away, it was time to get the drivetrain in race shape.

I have written before about waxing my race chain  and that was the first thing, that I did that today. Before installing the chain however, the rest of the drivetrain components needed cleaning, so I did that too.  Using a degreaser and stiff brush, I cleaned my cassette.  I took the time to clean all the gunk out of my derailleurs and lubricate them.  The jockey wheels had wax built up on them, so I cleaned all that off.  Finally, I cleaned up the chainrings, again removing any wax build up.

After reinstalling the chain, I had a completely clean drivetrain.  I only have a few rides before my race, so the whole thing should stay clean enough for the big day.  Doing this maintenance a few rides before race day, also gives me chance to make sure everything is working well.  You never know if something gets ‘upset’ as a result of the maintenance work.

I did a short ride this evening and everything was working well. The gears changed smoothly and the whole set up was nice and quiet.