I had a new experience yesterday. I had to replace a broken spoke on my wife's bike. I had actually put about 1500 miles on the wheel so it was really my wheel. As you could expect, it was freewheel side.

I am not a little guy and there are some pretty good hills around here, so you can imagine that the freewheel was torqued down pretty tight. I was surprised at the amount of force it took to break it loose. I didn't expect to have to use a 2 foot extension on the freewheel remover. I had to use the first law of Puerto Rican mechanics, "If it doesn't move, get a bigger hammer!" Figuratively speaking, anyway. And the price was right, 85 cents for a new spoke.

But all is well, the wheel trued up nicely, and it gave me the excuse to regrease the rear wheel.

Go for it.

I had to take my rear wheel to a mechanic and ask him to use the bigger hammer. This was after I had bent one (admittedly el cheapo) chain whip pretty well with no other visible results. This mechanic had a homemade chain whip based on a huge adjustable wrench. He got the freewheel loose with one good turn. Why, oh why aren't hypercrackers sold anymore?

--J