The spokes didn't need truing after all…ha…

Today has been a busy one, but I’m ready to relax. I didn’t ride to work and now I’m doubly glad I didn’t. When I got home I turned the bike over ready to work on truing the back wheel. Finding where it was out of true was easy. I then started tapping the spokes just to see if they sounded different.
One did. Very different. It was quiet. It moved. Not good.
Yep, I had a broken spoke. Not only that it was one that mounted on the cassette side of the back wheel meaning I’d have to remove the cassette to change it. I didn’t have time to take the wheel with me when I went for a haircut, but I did stop at the bike store. The fellow there told me to take the wheel to the shop later, but if I really wanted to change things myself I’d need a freewheel lock remover and a chain whip.
After my haircut I picked up a big adjustable wrench just to be sure I had one. Then I went home, took off the tire and took the wheel to shop.
They laughed when I said the fellow at the store told me I’d need a chain whip, apparently I don’t.
I am glad I took it all in though. One of the fellows who looks to have worked on bikes longer than I’ve been alive pulled out the skewer and discovered it was bent. Then he discovered that the axle was bent. Basically the back wheel was shot. He said these sorts of things happened, and I guess they do. They’ve just never happened to me before. Sure I’ve had broken bike parts, but never anything quite that “big,” at least not as an adult.
The upshot was that the shop gave me a new wheel. I’ve had the bike less than 2 months and put less than a 1000 miles on it (I’d guess about 600), so it wasn’t broken from over use. Misuse perhaps, though I don’t jump curbs or anything like that. Oh well.
The whole thing worked out fine. I just took a quick spin around the block and everything seems fine, except the brake is really loud for the moment till wears the side of the rim a bit. I can live with that.
The score here? I’m not overly happy with Giant as a brand, nor with the sales clerks, but I’m pretty pleased with the shop – again. As I left I joked that I hoped I wouldn’t be seeing them for a while. “My” mechanic said, “See you in a week.” 🙂
So with that, here’s the back of my bike all fixed up…

Aloha!