I just made another tuition payment to the bike mechanics department of the school of hard knocks. My son asked me to lace up a lightweight (1300 gram) wheelset for him with bladed spokes. I was surprised at how much the bladed spokes twisted, how much untwisting them affects the wheel trueness, and how easy they are to bugger up while trying to un-twist them. That's a mistake that I won't make again.

I just ordered the proper tool to keep the spokes from twisting. I also reordered a new set of 24 bladed spokes for my son's front wheel. SIGH. On the other hand, life would be pretty uninteresting if we weren't continually learning new things.

That could be an expensive lesson if the spokes are CXrays.

You mean you can't just use a mini vise grip to keep the spoke from twisting?

That's one of the mistakes that I made. I tried holding them with a pair of pliers that I had cushioned with masking tape but it didn't have enough surface area and slightly deformed the spokes. They'd be OK functionally but I wouldn't be satisfied and I'm the guy who I'm trying to please.

They're DT Aerolites - still expensive spokes.

I seem to remember taking the same class two years ago. My LBS mechanics had a laugh, supplied me with the right tools, and I graduated with honors.

Ha. HA! You guys are penny ante. When I read "tuition," I thought "college." I've got one more semester of that left (according to my daughter, who's had "One more semester, Dad" for two years). For what she's cost me just in the last two years (since she would have graduated if she weren't on the six-year plan), I could have bought a semi truck load of spokes and a mechanic to install each one.

I remember when bikes were expensive and college was cheap. (My community college was free and the University of California only charged $274.50/quarter.)

I can relate. Son # 2 will be joining son # 1 at college next year. I'll have 2 years of double tuition before son # 1 graduates and I'll be back to "only" paying tuition for one.

I had three tuitions going on at the same time but thank goodness that is behind me now......when that was over I bought myself a new bike for somehow managing to just get from week to week without the creditors barking too loudly! My parents always said they didn't know how they did it but they put 4 of us through school. I'm not sure how we did it either but I only have one more to go!

Well, it's the price of learning that's really the point. When you make a costly mistake you can either curse and wish or pretend that it didn't happen or you can realize that it's a learning opportunity.

Sounds familiar. I've got two right now. The oldest one graduates this year but he's planning on going to law school after a year off so I'll get hit up for at least part of that for another three years but he's on the hook for a good chunk of it since tuition is more that double that of undergrad. It looks like I'll have one year when all three will be in university.

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Double undergrad tuition? Gad Zooks! I never thought I'd ask this but do you suppose it's possible that lawyers actually do deserve to make more money than bike mechanics?

Law school tuition has more than doubled in Canada over the last 5 years. For what you are getting, it's still a bargain in the long term.

I've been b!tch!ng about that since I moved to Nevada. When I came home from Vietnam in 1969 I did four semesters at a community college for I think $64 a semester, transferred ALL my credits to San Jose State and paid less than $300 a semester there. U of Nevada is VERY reluctant to transfer credits even from four-year schools (they have a secret plan for English 101? Their own value for pi, making community college math unacceptable?), and they've raised tuition more than 30 percent in two years.

I went to college on the super economy plan. In the early 60's I managed one full year - fees, rent, meals and books for under $1,000.

That was a lot of money in those days, especially when you consider what starting salaries were back then.

Yeah. Back then I thought that if I could just earn $1,000 a month I'd never have any money concerns.

That was a while ago. # 1 son's tuition, room and board, after scholarships and grants, is $24K for the year plus the cost of books. Fortunately, # 2 son is getting a bit more in the way of scholarships and we will probably get more grants due to having 2 in at the same time. And my sister is helping us out as well. They both know that they get 4 years each on us, any more is on them.

Ha! Me too. My daughter is on year 3 of a 5 year plan (double degree, music education and psychology) at a fairly pricey private college.