Yesterday I brought Whip back to life, after “lying in wait” for way too long for me to get around to fixing him. Between FeZ (road) and Havoc (MTB), I was feeling I had all the bases covered. Yes, I know, these are excuses. Anyhow, I finally got around to researching tubeless tire maintenance, bought all the necessary tools, and a couple of new valve stems (because somewhere along the way I managed to get gobs of sealant throughout the stem).
It always feels good to learn new aspects of bike maintenance, and now I have one less servicing/repair category to feel nervous about. It was great getting back on Whip after six months (I said I waited too long already).
Whip was named by my VT crew. Because it was “Hokie Orange,” I gave them first rights at naming. My crew quickly picked “Whip”, in reference to “Orange Whip”, John Candy’s drink of choice in Blues Brothers.
VT was where I learned about bike maintenance. Being a starving college student, paying someone else to service my bike was a non-starter. So, over the course of a couple of years, I learned every aspect of the bike, including repacking hubs (remember when that was something we had to do?). Pre-internet and Pre-youtube, the learning was much more trial and error. But that college bike still runs, so clearly I eventually got it right.