Monday, January 28, 2008

My first major bike repair

As I mentioned, I broke a spoke on my ride on Saturday. What's more, it was a rear spoke on the drive side, so I had to take off the cassette and everything. I was going to just take it to a shop and have them do it, but I figured it could be a learning experience. 

I borrowed some tools from a friend of mine, and got it all done today. I'm pretty happy because I figured I'd screw it up or something, but the wheel looks really true and everything. So, my training is back on. And, if I feel like getting really dirty again, maybe I'll go out and get my 50 mile ride on Saturday. 

Here's a pic of the wheel after I was done. I spend a while degreasing the cassette because I hope I won't have to take it off again any time soon. I just had to include a pic. It's so shiny.

6 comments:

Amy D said...

Cool blog, Cole! I'll be checking up on you :)

Heidi said...

Nice job on the slick repair...did you have to do a lot of truing once you got the spoke in?

Cole Duke said...

I noticed the spoke break right away, and got right off the bike, so once I got the spoke back in there and tightened up, there wasn't a lot of truing left to do. It actually turned out really nice.

I rode for about an hour on my rollers last night, and it's still as true as can be.

Carl said...

Isn't it great when you realize....hey I can fix 90% of the stuff on my bike and save hundreds in repairs. Truing wheels is something you just HAVE to know how to do.

Clint said...

Awesome work! I can't true a wheel. Maybe I need to learn, but my bike-head neighbor told me that truing was the only thing he doesnt' do. Plus, I don't have a guitar pic.

Cole Duke said...

On the rear wheel, the guitar pick doesn't do much anyways because all the spokes are interlaced, so they don't really ring because they're all pressing against each other. I mostly just tighten up my brakes, and just tighten and loosen spokes very slightly until there's no wobble.