Pinyon, I am with you all the way. In any case, what if you did spend $300.00 on a *****in' rear wheel for your bike? Say you have it for ten years. That's only $30.00 a year! (Even I can afford that!)
What kind of 126mm hubs does your LBS have?

Paul

I talked with my favorite repair shop, which is in the next town, about 15 miles away. They have been around for a long while, do great work, and have a large inventory of old parts.

They still have a handful of never-been-used 126 mm hubs in their old parts trove, and will sell me a top-of-the-line 1990 Suntour freewheel (cone bearings) for about $20. That makes it $170 total for a really good rim ($20 hub, $65 rim, $40 for the spokes, and $45 for the labor).

Some of you have asked why I want to fix it? It...is my bike, and I'm sentimental. The frame is in great shape, even after I hit a deer going down a steep country road a few years ago at over 30 mph. The forks, handlebars, and front tire folded; the stem-clamp was ruined, and I even bent the saddle. All I did to the frame in that accident was add a few scrapes to the rear triangle.

I don't plan on trashing it anytime soon. If anything, I'll probably end up powder coating it sometime over the next few years. Besides, my body also likes that old-school race bike geometry.
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