Broken Bicycle Spoke Tutorial

Good Day Cycling Fans,

As the title states, I broke a spoke on the drive side rear wheel early one morning and I thought what better way to document this than to post a Broken Bicycle Spoke Tutorial.  

Since this particular spoke replacement also requires removal of the cassette, you'll get a 2-fer "How To" that includes Removing a Bicycle Cassette Tutorial.

I took the wheel to my LBS(local bike shop) and they determined the correct length of the replacement spoke and nipple for $2, so without further ado... 

Remove the quick release skewer to access to the lockring, which holds the cassette on the hub

Chain whip holds cassette in place while removing lockring

it's actually called a lockring, but you get the idea...

Technically this would be an over-over-under if you count the next spoke in the hub flange, but I digress

There is a special tool that holds the spoke nipple to avoid this sort of rigging

Once the spoke nipple was threaded to the spoke, I pulled the tape off 

Used a chain cleaner/degreaser, rag, and brushes to clean parts

Notice that the wrench is now is in the right hand as opposed to the left in the removal 

I will go into detail on wheel truing if there are interested parties 

Once the wheel is back in true, replace tube and tire, inflate to the stated psi and mount back on the bike...voila!!  You are now back in business to ride another day. I hope you found this tutorial resourceful. Please post comments and questions below. 

Until the next time

Keep your mind sharp, body fit and pedal hard

MB&B

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all you love birds and bicycle lovers

 
Both prints taken from http://www.etsy.com/shop/teambluebicycle?ref=seller_info

Until the next time

Keep your mind sharp, body fit and pedal hard

MB&B

Lance Armstrong's Tri-Bike

LiveStrong Tri-Bike

Congrats Lance on your first Ironman Triathlon in 20 years.  Pedal Hard in Panama!

Until the next time

Keep you mind sharp, your body fit and pedal hard

MB&B

Bontrager LiveStrong

I love Trek bikes and the photographers that make them look awesome!

Photographs courtesy of Bontrager LiveStrong 

Check out this stop motion Bike Build at Mellow Johnny's in Austin, Texas

Until the next time

Keep you mind sharp, your body fit and pedal hard

MB&B

2012 Gold Rush Cycling Classic

 Howdy MB&B Fans, 


I rode in a charity ride that had three routes and wanting to challenge myself, I elected to ride the 60 mile route on an overcast, cold and very windy Sunday morning.  I survived and had a great ride.  The winds were coming out of the N NW at 14-15 mph with gusts from 20-23 mph and it seemed to follow me through the entire ride.  I have a few takeaways or lessons-learned, if you will, that I will be sure to remember for future rides:

1. Always, always wear eye protection.  I missed the start time and was rushing to get on the road.  When I grabbed my gear out of my car, my sunglasses fell onto the floorboard.  It wasn't sunny out, but the wind was hard on the eyes, especially when wearing contact lenses.  After the ride, it took me 5 minutes to peel them off my eyeballs, and that was with a heavy dousing of saline.  I could have used tweezers and it would not have made a difference.
2. On long rides, invest in chamois cream.  Saddle sores are just no fun especially when you still have half the route to go.  
3. Keep you wits about you when clipping into your pedals.  All of my falls (3 and counting) have been a result of thinking about something else and shifting my weight as I'm clipping in while standing still.  At a rest stop, with about 25 miles to go, I was at about to start out, clipped my right foot in and stood on that foot with no intention of pedaling.  Needles to say, I ended up on my back with a lot of support folks and fellow riders looking at the poor helpless person on the ground.  Rather than try to brush it off, like it didn't happen, I embraced the incident and requested for more refreshments before getting up and starting out again. 

Click the link to see the route and my stats.

Gold Rush Cycling Classic at Garmin Connect - Route



                          Dacus, Texas

                          Apolonia, Texas

                        Richards, Texas

                 Montgomery, Texas

Until the next time

Keep you mind sharp, your body fit and pedal hard

MB&B