The past few times I have been home I have been fighting a losing battle with my bicycle chain. I've put a lot of miles on that chain and it was basically time to replace it. When I came home Friday I found that the chain was longer useable at all. Ok, time for a new one.
Saturday morning I bummed a ride to the bike shop to buy some new chain. I decided that since I was replaing the chain anyway I may as well upgrade to a better one. Now, a recumbent needs a lot of chain due to the drivetrain configuration. They don't actually sell chains specifically for bents. You have to buy more than one and put them together.
My particular model takes about 10 feet of chain. This is basically two standard chains linked together, minus about 4 links. I bought two good quality chains, a new chain tool, some better chain lube than I had been using, and some spray lube for the rest of the drivetrain system. I also stopped by the grocery and purchased some latex gloves (bike chains can make a real mess of your hands).
It took me about 10 minutes to remove the old chain and install the shiny new one. It then took about an hour of tinkering and adjusting to retune the bike and get everything working smoothly again. I'll still be making some minor adjustments for a couple of days as I ride and get a feel for the fine tuning needed.
It's nice to have my bent riding nice and smooth once again. I am hoping this higher quality lube will prevent the rusting that killed my old chain while the bike sits around waiting for me to return from the road. Ah well, I got quite a few miles from that old chain so I can't really complain about it.