2020-07-05 Shogun Bike Repair

My wife came into possession of a new (to her) bike recently and for the first
time in years, I got to dive back into bike repair.  When I was in grad school,
working on bikes was my stress-relief hobby. I used to fix up abandoned bikes
and even make the occasional frankenbike.  All that ended when I finished
school and got busy with work and kids, and I didn't even realize how much i
missed it.

So my wife got this bike off of Craigslist's free section, and we weren't
really sure what to expect.  It turned out the bike is a Shogun brand (made by
Kent), something I wasn't previously familiar with.  It's nothing special, but
after repair it turned out absolutely perfect for her.

When I showed up to claim the bike, there was no question at all as to why it
was free.  The bike had been out in the weather for a long time and it was in
really sorry shape.  The front suspension was locked.  All cables were frozen
in their housings.  The tires were flat and the seat was a hard plastic shell
that had lost its fabric and padding.

On the positive side, the bike had a nice 6061 aluminum frame with dual
suspension.  The rear suspension worked great. And it turned out the inner
tubes still held air once inflated.  Other positives included, well... it was
free! :)  Oh, the chain wasn't broken; that was nice.

I got right to work with my scant remaining bike tools, some home repair tools,
and a big bottle of WD-40.  I was able to unlock the suspension fork with a
good dose of WD-40 and some violent banging.  It still isn't quite smooth, but
it does work.

I was also able to free the cables within their housings, and was even able to
keep using them without replacement.  I did order new cables though because
these almost certainly won't last long.  Once the cables were freed and
re-threaded, that unlocked the brakes.  At that point, I only had to adjust the
springs on the linear-pull brakes, reattach the cables, and they were good.

The derailleur needed a WD-40 bath and some serious adjustment, but it now
smoothly swings from gear 1 to 7.  The bike is just a seven-speed, so it only
has a rear derailleur.

The bike is a bit short for me, but I still had to put it through some test
runs in the 1/2 mile loop around our block.  Even though I couldn't stretch my
legs out, it was a lot of fun and a very smooth bike.

But the best part was watching my wife take it out for a spin the first time.
She saw the condition before it was fixed up, so she probably started out with
really low expectations.  But she loves it!

It was a lot of fun getting my hands back into bike repair.  It was also a nice
surprise to find that a relatively cheap, mass-produced bike like this Shogun
could be revived in only 2 or 3 hours of labor and turn into something that
someone *wants* to ride.

Tune in again for more episodes of "I Found It On Craigslist".