Sticker Shock

So, I battled through the hideous traffic to get the wheels to the bike store for rebuilding. I’d nicked the wheels off what is to be Kathryn’s Raleigh city beater for this – on the basis that they said ’20 quid each per wheel’. This statement was true, but only in the sense that the actual labour cost is 20 quid.

When I discussed it with them, I asked about the spokes and the guy said it’d be ‘a bit extra’ for the spokes ‘if they need replacing’. I assured him they probably would. Probably all of them. This did not prompt him to comment on the cost of spokes.

This was unfortunate.

It turns out that they charge £1 per spoke. Given the 40 spoke rear wheel, this is ‘more than I’d like to pay’ for the moment. Granted, rusty rims eat through brake shoes, but there’s pain, and there’s dear god, how much. Especially given that the sturmey archer 3 speed hub in the borrowed wheel is also dead. I am contemplating the fearsome ‘looking at it’ – although I’ve currently applied a process of pouring lots of penetrating oil into it and hoping. If I’d've been quoted that before the choice would have been an easy one. It’s waaay cheaper to get a pre-made westwood rimmed wheel, and yes, the spoke count’s wrong, but hey, if anyone has figs available, they’re welcome to give them, but I certainly don’t. I can keep the old rims for the moment I become independently wealthy, perhaps through sales of my awesome stocks of junk.

On the plus side, I can use the spare rim to rebuild my 40 spoke rear when I get around to fixing the BSA hub, and I’ve now found somewhere that charges far less per spoke, so the next wheel should be much cheaper.

Originally published at Kates Journal. You can comment here or there.

Please insert ridiculous wail

One day I’m going to learn that I should check that the fault I think it is, is the fault it actually is.

So, I stripped down the bottom bracket on my beloved bike, having taken the cotter pin out from that side, and, having collected the ball bearings together after dropping them on the floor, spent some time cleaning up the inside of the bottom bracket.

I can see now that I really, really, really should service it properly, and that the one on the other side probably should be stripped down and cleaned as well. There was grease in there, yes, but I don’t know when it was last ‘greasy’. Much cleaning with plusgas of parts ensued, and fresh grease applied, and the bearings – which as others have suggested are tough as nails – all looked lovely when I reassembled. I’m slightly worried about the tightness to which I’ve tightened it, but it feels…okay. It runs smoothly. I guess I’ll check it in a week or so, and see how it’s feeling.

It’s good that something needed doing with the painfully overpriced tool I’d just bought (which, it turns out, I could have got away with the crappy Halfords one, because it was lovely and easy to adjust) because that wasn’t where the crunchy/clunky feeling was coming from. The cotter pin on the other side, the chain side, that had worked loose. And lo, a quick tighten and all was well. Having seen inside there though, I’m slightly unclear as to how the oiler is meant to work. It appears to just drip oil into a space in the bottom bracket that runs in to the legs running to the back wheel. There’s no cunning device to try and get oil dripped in there to the actual bearings. And that’s ignoring the whole pack-it-with-grease-then-add-oil-later freakyness I’m noting.

That’s what it says in my book, though. Still, if I’ve got it more or less right, then it shouldn’t need adjusting for a while. So that’s good :)

I have now ordered the tyre for the new wheel, and hopefully an innertube. It’s a bit difficult to ascertain whether I’m getting an innertube as the company it’s coming from are…somewhat…recalictrant about answering e-mail.

Originally published at Kates Journal. You can comment here or there.