broken spoke
I broke a spoke in my rear wheel just as I arrived at work, at the top of the ramp into the parking garage. I figured I would deal with it when I left. (My hands would be warmer.)
I had a lot of trouble getting the broken spoke out. It broke at the nipple. Replacing it will require removing the brake disc, and probably the sprocket cluster too. (The wheel should be OK until the weekend.) Once the spoke was out of the way, I could see that the brake was not grabbing. I couldn't figure out how the broken spoke might have caused this. I eventually took the wheel off to get a better look in the brake, but I still couldn't find anything wrong. When I put the wheel back on I noticed that the cluster wasn't tight; this probably accounts for poor shifting the last few weeks. So I took the wheel off again. I don't carry the sprocket tool, but the pointy nose of my pliers got things a little better than finger-tight. The ride home was uneventful after things were put back together.
I hope this broken spoke wasn't one of the new spokes - i.e. I hope the new spokes aren't crappy. Taking off a wheel and tire and tube - and probably a disk, and maybe the cluster - is a lot of bother. I don't want to be doing it often.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/1035648.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
I had a lot of trouble getting the broken spoke out. It broke at the nipple. Replacing it will require removing the brake disc, and probably the sprocket cluster too. (The wheel should be OK until the weekend.) Once the spoke was out of the way, I could see that the brake was not grabbing. I couldn't figure out how the broken spoke might have caused this. I eventually took the wheel off to get a better look in the brake, but I still couldn't find anything wrong. When I put the wheel back on I noticed that the cluster wasn't tight; this probably accounts for poor shifting the last few weeks. So I took the wheel off again. I don't carry the sprocket tool, but the pointy nose of my pliers got things a little better than finger-tight. The ride home was uneventful after things were put back together.
I hope this broken spoke wasn't one of the new spokes - i.e. I hope the new spokes aren't crappy. Taking off a wheel and tire and tube - and probably a disk, and maybe the cluster - is a lot of bother. I don't want to be doing it often.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/1035648.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]