Trucker_JDub

A friend of mine came over today and off we went on a ride. It was suppose to be a 25-30 mile easy paced relaxing go where even the wind takes you type ride. Sounds good right? Off we went. We make it about 15 miles to our turn around point. The nut holding on the peddle of my friends bike started backing off really fast (about the only thing I don't carry a tool for).

We limped his bike to the LBS; closed, it is Sunday after all. We went across to our LHS (Local Hardware Store). I was going to buy what ever I could find to get him back on the road. The LHS sees what we are trying to do and brings both our bikes and us into the back room. 15 minutes later we have a new nut torqued on and ready to go. When I asked about price we where told 'don't worry about it' (This is why a lot of people still go in there instead of the new Home Depot 2 blocks away). So now where set right?

Wrong. Now our little adventure has put us 18 miles away from home instead of the 13 we where when we had the problem. No big deal. We start back taking things nice and easy. At about the 10 mile left to go mark my friends peddle comes off again. We do our best but there is nothing we can do. Out in the middle of the country side there aren't a lot of options.

Finally I figure the only thing to do is double time it home, get my truck and come back and pick him up. So off I go. I was surprising my self, keeping about 17+mph and feeling great. Until I was just hitting 3 miles away from my friend (still 7 miles from home). I was slowing down for an intersection even though I had the right of way. I was at about 7mph, coasted threw the intersection and put down my first power stroke to get back up to speed... ...!!POP!!... ...What the heck? I stop and take a look and see that I snapped a spoke in the rear (The other thing I'm not prepared to fix). My rim was bent slightly to the side. There was no 'limping' this home. I started walking. No one answering any of my cell phone calls, and no friends living near by. My house was actually the closest friendly place.

Once I hit the 3 mile mark a friend passed me in his truck turned around and gave me a ride home so I could go get my other friend. I guess I'll be off to the LBS tomorrow. I just had to vent. Feel free to add your own bad day stories if you like.

RoaringMad Mac

Good lord I hope I don't have one of those. I think I would be pulling my hair out.

Jtgyk

Oh Great! ANOTHER thing for me to be paranoid about.
Now I'm going to wind up with a peddle wrench in my bike trunk. I'm gonna have to start pulling a trailer.


Glad you made it through alright.

jakereed

I had a similar incident happen to me about 12 years ago out in Arizona. A friend and I were out riding in the desert when one of my pedals came off. I was new to biking then and carried no tools whatsoever, and we were about 7 miles away from the car. My friend said he would ride off and come back to pick me up with the car, so he rode off and I started walking. I must say it's not a really good idea to get stuck out in the desert, but luckily it was not the hottest time of year. What I did find disconcerting though was that it started becoming dark and I had no lights on the bike to see, it gets pretty dark out there without any type of street lights or anything else. I then became quite concerned about mountain lions because I had seen some rather large tracks during our ride. I know now they probably would not have bothered me but I'm from the city and this type of wildlife makes me very nervous! Anyway, I survived and NEVER went out again without tools, a spare pedal, and a cell phone. I even had a LBS owner once ask me why I carried my cell phone when riding, I thought that was a pretty dumb question because they actually have cellular service out there. :-)

I still carry a spare pedal and tools, but the trail I ride now is usually no more than a couple of miles away from a bus stop. he he

bdinger

Today kind of stunk, to be honest. Up at 5am (and most of the night) because of a child who has developed insomnia, and feels the need to bless the rest of us with it (ARRGGH!!!). Opened the garage door to get the bike out.. and it's a nice steady heavy drizzle of rain, with an ambient temperature in the low 40's. Rode the 5 miles to work at a crawl, riding the brakes or just barely pedaling as the frozen water bullets attacked me.

And the whole way I grumbled at myself for leaving the car at work all weekend. Oh well .

Trucker_JDub

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe we should all hire a support vehicle for our rides.

CliftonGK1

Just get a short adjustable wrench and it will fit the bill for most things that can rattle loose on your bike. Between an adjustable wrench and a set of hex keys, you can adjust almost everything.

If you use nutted axles, I think axle nuts and pedals are both 15mm so it's a dual-duty tool. (I might be wrong.)

Jtgyk

maybe just strap a folding bike on the back.

Air

Ouch - that sucks. Went for a ride the other day and hit a much larger than expected crack in the concrete - blew the tube out. Luckily wheel and tire were fine but I was grateful for throwing that extra tube in my bag (just so I had an extra even after that - no public transportation where I was).

Last year I was supposed to marshal a century ride when the rear wheel I just had handbuilt fell apart and I had to abort the ride - that sucked too.

Mr. Beanz

What I've learned. If a pedal comes loose, then there is something wrong, something stripped. Usually happens after a change of pedals. Once pedals are on, they can be a B to get off. So if it comes loose on it's own,Trouble! After I change my pedals, I ride ina circle rt for testing.

The spoke? The reason I use traditional 32 spoke rims. You can get back no problem with a broken spoke. I tweaked a friend's 24 spoke well enough to complete a 20 mile return. I carry a spoke wrench AT ALL TIMES!

If you break a spoke, it will pull to one side. IF it pulls to the left, loosen the spokes on the same side to allow the rim to move back in the opposite direction. Then tighten a couple on the oppoiste side to pull it that direction. Simple really and common sense...lossen to relax, then tighten to pull.

Sorry about the sucky ride!

bdinger

I'll add to this that spoke repairs, once you get the hang of them, are pretty easy. In fact, I'm comfortable enough with it that on long rides I'm going to start carrying a spare spoke, "just in case". Also, get comfortable with brake adjustments, if the wheel is quite badly out of true, you may need to "open up" the brakes a bit to compensate for the wheel wobble.

Regardless, I've ridden PLENTY on busted spoke wheels, and ranted about it plenty as well .

As a side note, today has turned around a bit. While the temp still hasn't inched above 40, and the clouds are gray the rain has stopped. And, you know it could be worse, I could still be days away from a heart attack, stuck in traffic in an SUV that won't be paid off for 6 more years smoking a Marlboro.

Yeah, I'll take a busted spoke or a little rain ANY DAY OF THE WEEK.

Trucker_JDub

I guess I should be a little more specific. It wasn't the pedal exactly it was the crank arm. Also its on an old bike (walmart) that hadn't been ridden much in years. The guy is wanting to find a better quality used bike now so I just might have a riding partner for a change.

As far as my spoke breaking I didn't think the wheel would be strong enough if I where to have straightened it minus the spoke (it broke on the drive side at the hub). I didn't even think to try and fix it. I have a spoke wrench in my bag, I should have tried it I guess. I have never tried to mess with spokes before. I have an old steel MTB wheel in the garage, maybe I'll pull it out and play with the spoke wrench and self teach myself how to fix them.

Is there anything I should do to improve the wheel at this point? (Thinking of getting some Deep-V's when my tax refund arrives) I have about 200 miles on the bike since I bought it used and have lost about 10 lbs on it so could this be a weight issue or was it just time for the spoke to break? I have never broken a spoke before so I'm not sure what causes it. I'm just glad it didn't happen when I was doing 30+mph down a hill earlier in the ride.

Mr. Beanz

Spokes break due to lack of tension. When I build a wheel, I always retension and retrue when the wheel reaches about 300 miles of use. If you don't retension it, it allows the spokes to wiggle and jiggle in the hub flange holes. Gets sloppy then sooner or later the spokes beak at the j-hooks.

If you work on the old mtb, lube the nipples first to make sure they turn freely. When I work on wheels, I place a small mark with a black Sharpie so that I can monitor the movement of the spoke. Nipple should turn, not the spoke. If the spoke turns, it binds up causing breakage. Easily removed with a cloth and WD40.

JosephPaul86

i know a family ran Ace Hardware here in sugar land. Great people and thats why I go there for anything before i go to home depot.

I'm prepared for anything that can be fixed with patches, a tube, Allen wrenches and a leather man. But I live only 3 miles from an sporting goods store. UPS delivered my panniers today so i guess it is time for some weekend trips.