About that broken wheel

Five days ago, back in Litchfield IL, I noticed some cracks in the rim of my rear wheel. Because it has to bear the weight of a tandem (most if that weight is me, to be honest), I can't use an off the shelf wheel intended for a single bike.

I soon discovered that no bike shops have double walled 40 spoke rims in stock. So I had to order a new wheel or a new rim and have it shipped ahead. Because of Memorial day, the earliest I could have something shipped was today, where my destination is Boonville MO.

I called up Steve at Champion Bicycles in Boonville and explained my situation. Steve was very helpful. I gave him the info on my rim, which he said he could order for me. But then Steve told me he needed to know my spoke lengths so he could order spokes.

A lot of people who enjoy cycle-touring also enjoy tinkering with their bikes. They know all about the specs and components of their bikes. That's not me. I can fix a flat tire, but that's about it. I had no clue what size spokes I needed.

What to do? Call Rudy, my trusty bike mechanic back in Florida. Rudy is an expert bike mechanic, especially for tandems, and a good friend to have when you have bike issues. He has bailed us out before, diagnosing problems over the phone from 1000 miles away just as if he was looking at the bike. I told him what rim I was ordering and that my hub was from a 2009 co-motion speedster, and like magic he got back to me with the correct spoke lengths.

For the last few days I have been monitoring the cracks in the rim to see if they are getting worse. I marked the length of the cracks with a sharpie. Remarkably, the existing cracks have not been getting worse, but 2 new small cracks have appeared. I wasn't too worried, a wheel failure on the flat Katy trail was unlikely to cause a crash, but I was pleased to see the damaged wheel was holding up.

We woke this morning to the ominous sound of thunder. Rain was forecast for the morning. A late start was not an option, since I needed to get to Boonville by noon to give Steve time to build the wheel. We ignored the thunder and left right after breakfast. Other than a few sprinkles, our luck held and we didn't get any serious rain (our official rainy day count remains at one).

It was only a sprinkle, but the trail got a little muddy.

If it starts to really rain, we can always take cover in a cave.

Someone else had the same idea about sheltering in a cave.

The tiled elevator is a landmark along the trail.

We've crossed dozens of bridges over streams, but this was the first Katy tunnel we have seen.

When we got to Boonville, Steve was waiting for us with the new rim and spokes. We hosed the mud off the bike and let him get to work.

Steve Champion ready to go to work. He's holding the damaged wheel, the new rim is below the old wheel.

While Steve was working on the wheel, we had lunch at the local casino. We got a pretty good free buffet lunch just for showing up. I guess it's worth it to them to give away food just to get people close to the temptation of gambling.

Champion bicycles closes at 4:00 and by then Steve was done with the wheel. We should be all set to continue on tomorrow without loosing any days to repair the wheel.

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Boris FayferHard to believe this wheel survive so long with this cracks! no crush! i guess you got experience after many broken wheels and spokes and no bad lessons. keep that way!
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6 years ago