Last night I turned the wrenches on my commuter bike (Giant Seek), replacing the wheels. Over the past couple of years I have had repeated incidents of breaking spokes on the rear wheel, and it happened again on my commute Tuesday morning (more on that later). The last time this happened and I took the broken wheel to Bow Cycle to have the spoke replaced and the wheel trued, they advised me that it would keep happening because the wheel/spokes were not high-quality and I had put a lot of kilometers on them. Metal fatigue is a thing.
So I got in touch with Mark at Bow, and thanks to my Bow Cyclist ambassador discount, it was cheaper to get replacement wheels with superior spokes and hubs that it was to re-spoke the wheels. I picked the new wheels up on Wednesday night, and last night I made the switch.
I had to remove the disc brake rotors from the old wheels and attach them to the new, as well as transferring the cassette (gears), tubes and tires and I had to apply the wheel tape. Overall, it wasn’t that much of a challenge. I had all the tools I needed and I finished in about an hour. But any time you are wrenching on the brakes there has to be that inner voice asking “Are you sure you did it right?”
So I rode to work this morning on the new wheels, and I’m happy to report nothing fell off, including me. 🚴🏻
On Tuesday morning, I headed out on my usual commute to work, and when I was accelerating into the left-turn lane off of Nose Hill Blvd and onto Silver Springs Blvd, I heard the all-too-familiar “Pwang!” of a spoke breaking. I looked down and could see that my rear wheel was already majorly warped and wobbling. I limped to a convenient spot and called Tammy. I explained the situation and asked if she would bring me a replacement bike and a backpack (since neither road bike has pannier racks).
She did so, and came and met me. We swapped bikes and then I was off. Just like a professional rider with a support team. Although I don’t recall Jens Voigt getting a goodbye kiss from the mechanic. 😉
