jenna rose journal

Back in March I showed you my mom's old raleigh that I had taken on as a spring project. Well it's been my way of getting around town for the past few weeks and I absolutely love it. I never had a city bike so didn't really know how amazing it is to be able to do most travelling and errands on bike, especially with the addition of the detours mogo pannier. I even biked with 20 pounds of beeswax in the pannier last week to a candle making night.

Although I thought I would need help with the project I ended up being able to do the whole thing solo. A time consuming yet rewarding project that has probably made me appreciate the bike even more. It started with a good cleaning, followed by lots and lots of rust removal, and then tightening bolts, oiling the chain, pumping the tires, and adjusting of the brake pads. But most of the work was removing all that rust.

I used a metal polish/cleaner that Jeff had kickin' around called Peek. I let the cream sit on the rust for a few minutes and then rubbed and scrubbed with a rag and fine wet/dry sandpaper. The cream not only helped remove the rust but made all the metal nice and shiny.

Topped off with leather grips hand stitched by Amy Kenny and a bell from DBH that makes the sound 'ding-dong'.