My Gazelle has been off the road since the end of last season, because of a broken spoke. I've had my tourer, and various other things running, and haven't had the time to go for long fast rides anyway, so it hasn't been a priority. This week, however, I finished building up a fast road machine for a friend (I built it up from a bike that I bought for £10, and then sold the Cinelli bars for more than that, using a wheelset that I took from another bike which I still parted out for a profit. Free bike!), and wanted to be able to go out for a good ride for him. Therefore I took my front wheel to the LBS for a new spoke, and took my slightly wobbly rear in for a true while they were at it. These are really narrow section alloys, wearing 20mm tyres, and I love them. This is what came back:



I don't know enough about wheelbuilding and maintenance to know whether this was likely just tired aluminium, or whether the wrench has overtensioned the spoke. Whatever it is, the front spoke and true was cheap at £3:50, but now I need a new wheelset, and I STILL can't ride the Gazelle. I can ride my Raleigh Royal tourer, and I'm probably big and fit enough to stick with my buddy anyway, but I didn't want this to happen to my poor wheel