mlwschultz

Nothing major. Just taking a sharp turn, the front of the bike completed the turn and we think the back tire slid on a manhole cover (rained heavy earlier in the day too). We ended up on our left sides on the road. No major injuries, some road burn, sore hips, and general body aches. I bumped my head on the road (not too hard), but was thankfully (always) wearing my helmet. The worst damage on the bike was the front wheel, which slid into the curbing when we went down. The wheel is all bent up. Have to take it to the LBS today and see if they can get us a replacement. The bike is a Trek T2000. The wheels are Bontrager for tandems. It'll probably cost $250-300 for the wheel, then more for a new tire if we need it.

The real bummer, besides the expense of replacing the wheel, is that we had just started our ride so didn't get a ride last night and now we won't be able to ride at all this weekend because we don't have a front wheel.

We bought the bike for ourselves for Christmas last year. We've got 1100 miles on it so far. With the weather getting cooler in Maine already, we don't have much time left to ride and hate to miss any days.

Ohio Trekker

Sorry to hear about your misfortune but at least your OK. I had a kid come off a side trail and ride right into my back wheel, It too was a bontrager and it sucked because the LBS said Bontrager will only sell them in pairs. After searching their inventory they managed to find one sole rear wheel so you can imagine my relief! Hope you have the same kind of luck.

On a side note, I did save the kid from ending up in the canal, wish it had been his parents that ended up in the canal not teaching the child to watch where he's going slow or stop at the stop sign, and yield to people crossing in front.

Steve Katzman

If you are well enough to ride, and your team weight is less than 325 pounds, maybe you can borrow a wheel/tire combo from a comparably sized single bike. The front wheels use the same axle spacing so there should be no problem with fit. Just make sure that the wheel has at least 32 spokes with a 3X crossing pattern (ie: a conservative wheel as opposed to a high zoot radial laced 20 spoke design). This may not be a recommended wheel for every day, year around use, but it would probably be fine for an easy ride or two until you get a replacement. Just a thought.

mlwschultz

Took the damaged wheel to the LBS. They said all it needs is a new rim (they ordered it on the spot) and they can transfer the spokes & hub to the new rim. They also gave us a loaner wheel for the tandem so we can keep riding until the new rim arrives (about 2 weeks).

We rode Friday night, no problems. Saturday chain came off. We put it right back on, but didn't realize that the pedals were no longer in sync, so the trip home was somewhat difficult as we were on opposite strokes (corrected this once we got home). Sunday the chain came off again, we put it back on (in sync) and continued the ride but had to keep our speed down to make sure it didn't come off for the rest of the ride. Taking the bike to the LBS today to tighten up the chain, but we're thankful that we were able to ride all weekend. The weather was beautiful!