As I've noted previously, my bike broke on the first day of my tour. The drive-side dropout (part of the steel frame) broke. If I'd been in the hinterlands I might have tried to get the frame welded. But after a phone call to REI, and finding they had a bike "only" a couple hours from Yorktown, with my wife still in town, we made the drive up towards D.C. and got the frame replaced. REI did a nice job touching up the wheels (no problems for about 3,000 miles then a minor touch-up true), and moved the front rack, bars, and gave me money back because it was a return from a high-tax state plus buying the new one at the same price in a lower tax state!

A few years later, I figured out I'd put a 135 rear wheel into a 130 frame, without spreading the frame, which might have caused the breakage.

25,000 miles later, that's still my rain bike.