Just in case spoke tension was a factor, I threw the road bike's rear wheel into the stand so I could knock about three-eighths of a turn off all the nips. Too late! Every drive side spoke hole has started to crack.
The wheel is still round and true. I had no idea it was starting to fail until I took a close look. Too bad I didn't look before Friday when I fired off another order for a rim. Maybe I should just stock up.
This should get my whole fleet caught up. I have no more rear wheels in regular service.
This string of gear failures is my punishment for buying the Travelers Check, a bike I did not need. Hell, now that the airlines will be charging for every checked bag, what's the point? And how likely am I to really do any traveling? When the S and S coupling instructions say to cover the couplings in wet conditions, there goes the idea of using the bike for the normal fixed gear niche. Guess I should have done more research and bought a normal Cross Check frame. I could transfer the multi-gear setup to the new Cross Check to take advantage of the improvements since 2000 and make the old green machine into the new fixie.
Yeah. No. I still like the idea of the TC. And a glance at the S and S website makes me think a coupled steel frame might actually be better than a traditional one in wet conditions, because you can open it up and blow-dry it.
I think I'm through with Sun rims for a while. This latest cracker is another ME14A. I've had at least one of those fail on a customer's wheel, plus the 0 Degree XC that just died on my Cross Check. It's Velocity's turn now. Got me a Razor on order. And I guess I should quit pounding 32-spoke road wheels down dirt roads under my porcine bulk. I weigh 10 pounds more than I did when I was racing, and it isn't going away. I like to blame cross-country skiing and kayaking for it, but sour cream coffee cake muffins and upper middle class beer contribute a lot.
I felt okay until I read a guy's forum post in a thread about rim failures and he described himself as "stout" at 165 pounds. Shut up, you anorexic #^%, unless you're five feet tall and 165.
The worst part is finding each problem just after I'd ordered similar parts to take care of the previous problem. I should have inspected the fleet back in April so I could make one big order and have everything ready for the season.
2 comments:
dead drunk
Buying a new bike is a very difficult process. It is a well known fact that every bike has within it a Spirit ( once known as the FreeSpirit) that guards the relationship between the bike and its owner/jockey very, very carefully.
When the Spirit feels that relationship is threatened, it unleashes its power to protect the spirit's bike place in the natural order of the universe. The effects can be devastating and life-changing.
However, if one pays homage to the Spirit by practicing the lost art of bike love, all will be well.
Post a Comment