Half a day’s work to return my bike back to a normal bike, with some servicing and cleaning. All prompted by spokes, or the lack of them. The other month I noticed a spoke had broken on the rear wheel which I was not too concerned about but thought I should sort it. Next time I checked, a number of months later, I noticed an opposite spoke had gone too, balancing it all out. I thought I probably really should do something before the wheel started to loose shape. On the way to work last week, a big bang on the rear wheel and a sudden amount of rubbing against the brakes. That was the third spoke to go and the wheel’s fit was no longer good, rubbing against the brakes and the side of the mud guard. I was on the way to work and so I removed the rear brake and carried on, allowing the motor to take the strain and probably not enjoying itself. The next day I got the train.
The rear motor hub is quite heavy and so loosing spokes is not too surprising, and it’s taken a good six months to get to this stage. The only bad thing has been my lack of action when the first one went, I could had replaced it and carried on. Now I need to take it to the shop to have it repaired.
I can only get to the shop at the weekend and the thought of going to work by train all work was not a good one. The train itself is no problem and I quite like it, but the price and the people, all the crowds and the having to be at the station at the right time each evening was not something I fancied. So I decided to go by bike instead, minus the heavy battery and motor.
The wheel needed to be removed anyway so that I could take it to the shop, so I took this out, removed the tire and cassette and put it all back onto the original light wheel. My hands were getting rather dirty due to months of winter crud the bike had collected over winter and so I cleaned it all, making sure to keep the motor and battery contacts dry. The front mech cable had snapped a couple of months ago which had not been a problem under electric power but would now be needed. I gave the chain a good clean and re-oil while I had it off the bike. I put the rear brakes back together, put plastic bags over the contacts, held in place with cable ties.
A quick ride around the block and all was ok. The original rear wheel itself was no longer the most true wheel in the world. With little tolerance and clearance of the rear mudguard, a certain amount of tweaking was needed to stop it rubbing. Nothing serious, but maybe once I get the motor hub wheel back and re-fitted I’ll get this one re-trued too.
Bike is now back to itself, light and nimble, if not a bit strange in that when I peddle I no longer shoot off. The weather is hopefully going to stay good for the next week or too. I’ll take the wheel to the bike shop next weekend and see what they can do.
