Well, when I tried to fix the broken spoke, The Twelve went to hell in a handbasket. While re-mounting the tire after installing the new spoke, I popped the inner tube. I patched it and got it all back together and noticed the hub cones were a little loose. I fixed those up and put the wheel back on the bike.
As would be expected after a spoke replacement, the wheel was out of true. While truing it, I managed to get the whole wheel dish way off. This wouldn't be a huge deal, but then my brake wasn't working right.
Frankly, I'm disgusted with my road bike right now. It's all my own fault, really. I'm not a professional bike tech nor do I pretend to be, but I spent 2 hours on it only to find I've boogered the bike up to the point where it's going to take a trip to the bike shop or a whole Saturday up to my knees in bike parts to get things right.
Given the fact that this is the third spoke on this wheel that's broken, I think the wheel's probably a write-off. That means it's likely time to once again buy a new rear wheel, or have one built up.
I spent what was left of the daylight putting the rack onto Hybridzilla. The backup commuter is stepping into the limelight for as long as it takes to get The Twelve back up and running properly.
The homeward commute was extremely windy. I took the bus home. Tomorrow will be worse, but it should be a tailwind in the morning. I might ride in, but I'm almost certainly going to take the bus again in the evening.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
The Twelve is back in the Dog House
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5 comments:
Don't feel too bad Noah! My main commuter is in the shop also. I wore out both my chain and largest chainwheel. Seeing it hadn't had a major overhaul in over 5 years I figured it was time. In the mean time I'm on the '07 Sirrus. Which is cool in the aspect that it's my newest and most modern bike; however, I miss being on 26" wheels. The Alpine feels faster off the line compared to the 700Cs of the Hybrid.
Damn, that sucks! My commuter is in the shop right now too, so I rode the road bike to work today. I haven't been commuting on it much this year, and it feels weird. Even though it's obviously more efficient, it just feels kinda fragile.
I usually botch things when I try to fix them myself, so I usually don't bother and just take things to the shop.
Noah, what size tires are you running on the 12? A larger tire, running at a lower pressure, might help the rear wheel cope with the added weight of panniers, etc. It might not feel as fast, but there is very little actual difference in rolling resistance between a 26c tire and a 32 (if it will fit in your frame.
Get a 32 spoke rim if you don't already have one.
Get Trek to warranty the wheel. I played a similar game last year with a stock Bontrager wheel, and after a rebuild the shop was like "yeah, this is insane" and had Trek pay them for the wheel. Apparently Trek/Bontrager warranty the wheels for 5 years.
Worked out well in my favor, Trek paid for the wheel, and I had them build up a new one using non-Bontrager parts. Still had off-and-on problems, but nothing as insane as the Bontrager stuff (stock build: 3 spokes in the first 100 miles, rebuild: 3 spokes in the first 200 miles).
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