one thing leads to another

A few days ago I was riding home and noticed that the rear wheel on my commuter bike was wobbling. I figured I had broken a spoke but when I got home and took a look the right flange on my hub had fatigued and a piece had sheered off causing me to lose TWO spokes.



So I grabbed a wheel off of my mountain bike.

In the process I noticed that not only was my front tire pretty sketchy (several cuts has been patched with duct tape) but my rear tire was worn down to the threads in no less than FOUR places. Yikes. Guess I need to cool it on the skids.

Lessons learned.

1. Having spare parts on hand is great! I had a spare wheel, two spare tires (thanks to Recycled Cycles) and I was ready to roll in relatively little time.
2. No bike gear lasts forever and this Neuvation wheel has been on my commuter for years. I would happily buy another but they stopped selling 26" wheels some time ago...
3. Getting a 20% off email coupon from one of your online bike parts sources when you need it rocks.
4. Disc brakes - like it even needs saying - are the bomb. No way could I have ridden home with my rim wobbling around this much. I can honestly say I have purchased my last caliper brake bike.

I've got a new rear wheel and some more tires on the way.