WD to the rescue

Stuck cables can be a real problem. I think an occasional small squirt of WD40 cuts that problem down a lot. If it's a throttle problem on a scooter, it can be a lifesaver.

My daughter has a bicycle that she only uses when vacationing. They camp a lot. She had a modern Murray multi-speed bike and never got things adjusted up enough to be rideable. So she sold it and asked me to find her a bike that was a little less complicated. I found her a 28 year-old Huffy with skinny tires, fenders, and a Strumley Archer three-speed hub. It had almost no miles on it and someone had just replaced the tires.

That bike worked for her and she really liked it, but after a couple of Myrtle Beach trips, she found she had no rear brake. You guessed it. The cable was stuck. I think salt may have gotten into the cable housing. I applied WD40, but it appeared that the stuck part was the whole length of the cable and it just didn't get in that far. So I kept applying a squirt every couple of weeks until it soaked all the way through and finally it began to move. I worked a little more WD40 in there and didn't mention that I had gotten it unstuck.

Then one day I got a call from Myrtle Beach. "Hey, Dad! I have both brakes on my bicycle! Thanks."

And it's good for scooters, too.