Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2078:

Left work at lunch to run an errand. The sun was out, the temp was 70 and it was a beautiful day. I was on the road bike.

A little more than a mile from the office I felt a wobble. By the 1.5 mile mark the wobble was getting pronounced, so I looked down and saw it was coming from the rear rim. I thought maybe I had a spoke get loose, so I pulled over to investigate. I reached down and sure enough there was a spoke that was very loose. Then I looked at the nipple end and saw a gaping hole nearly 1/4" wide where their used to be rim. Well, that's not good.

I decided to make a routing change, and headed for home. I opened up my rear brake caliper to keep the rim from rubbing as I rode. The wheel didn't seem to be getting any worse, but I kept the speed pretty low. It was about six more miles to get home.

Coincidentally on my way to the house I passed within a block of my LBS where I had purchased this wheel 18 months ago. I figured at minimum they would enjoy seeing the carnage I had created. I was right: they were fascinated that the nipple didn't pull free, but the entire chunk of rim let loose. They're calling the manufacturer to talk to them about a possible warranty claim. Against their advice, I finished my ride home on the compromised wheel.

At home I pulled out my vintage Panasonic road bike that hasn't been ridden in at least five years. It had lots of dust and cobwebs, and two flat tires. I pumped up the tires and they held air, so I left my carbon road bike at home and took the Panasonic to finish the ride.

Suddenly changing from indexed brifters to friction bar-end shifting was a little awkward. Going from 22 speeds to 10 was also a change. And the brakes on the Panasonic are definitely not as good as my Kestrel. But I made it, and I didn't have to make the "call of shame" to get a ride.