Thursday, September 25, 2014

A visit from stupid wheels

The rider had noticed that one spoke in his front wheel was so loose it hit the computer pickup on every revolution. Fortunately he did not pull it out sideways and then twist it around an adjacent spoke. Riders who do that often make the repair significantly more complicated and expensive than it would have been if they'd found a less drastic way to secure it while they made their way home.

What the rider did not notice was the similarly wobbly condition of the rear wheel. It's behind him, after all.

I had to check and adjust the tension in both wheels. Simple enough.  But the spokes are in pairs.
You can only turn the nipples one flat at a time. When you're tightening spokes that are flappy loose, that slows things right down.
You don't have to build a better mousetrap, just a weird looking one. The mice will laugh, but so will you, all the way to the bank. You're not out to trap mice. You're out to trap purchasers.

2 comments:

Steve A said...

Re spokes - "...isn't that what wire cutters are for?" he innocently asks...

cafiend said...

The spokes were all still there. If I clipped any I would only have to reproduce the same stupid spoking pattern anyway. I just took the time to turn. the. nipples. one. flat. at. a. time.