they eventually said that they could get a stronger rear wheel for it that would originally have been used on a tandem I believe but at that point, I was enjoying riding on the road bike that I had received and couldn't imagine that even fixing the wheel would give me a peppier ride so I figured I would come back to it when I got a bit lighter... maybe even avoid having to replace the wheel... now, I am 80 lbs lighter (still have lbs to go...) but I guess I have a bad taste in my mouth when I ponder riding it...