The Wheel is being rebuilt!

I finally found a hub nut. In the end, I just bought a spoke for $8.00 and it came with the hub nut. The guy ended up giving me a spare shimano wrench. Turns out I will need to do a bit of research on building these wheels because apparently it's not the standard process. In the mean time, I said *fuck it* and decided to just take the wheel in and have it rebuilt. I just don't see myself having the time to do it today. It will take the shop about an hour, but it would probably take me double that or longer with only about an 80% chance that I'd get everything right. At least now I'm going to be able to ride tomorrow! So, I was driving away from the bike shop when I passed a guy on a tall bike. Here's what I ended up doing with the picture.

North of Nowhere

I invited a friend to lunch with the hope that if I paid for her food she'd drive me to North of the Border Bicycles so that I could pick up the XTR Hub Nut. She agreed, so after eating an over-priced burrito at Wholefoods, we headed over to find the tiny little bike shop tucked away in the corner of a nondescript business park. It's not a place you'd expect to find a bike shop, and upon entering the store the first thing I noticed is that the space isn't set up to really be a showroom. But, they had the part I need, so what do I care if they're in a bad location.

When I walked in I saw a man in a mechanic's wardrobe in the back room. He walked out looking like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, and greeted me. I assume that this was the owner of the shop who is also the salesman, mechanic and everything else. It's a pretty small space, so I can't imagine more than two people being in the stoe at a time. I told him I was looking for the XTR hub nut, and he instantly knew what I wanted and retreated back to the workshop to grab the part. I asked to use the bathroom, and as I pushed open the door, he asked me how many hub nuts I wanted.

I asked him how much they cost, expecting to maybe hear $1.50 since I could kind of tell that this shop wasn't a high-traffic/high-sales sort of place and I'd pay a premium. (Trek said that they should be about $0.80-$0.99 each). Instead the guy tells me that they are $5.00 each. What the fuck!?! $5.00??? I forgot all about needing to pee, certain that he was quoting the price for some other part. But he held up the bag and said, no, they were $5.00 each (he had two left), and that the reason the price was so high is because 'my buddy only bought one spoke from him and he had to order $100 in parts.'

Not having this part really screws with my riding abilities for the weekend. However, based on principal alone, there was no way I was going to give this guy $5.00 for a part that should cost less than $1.00. His attitude and blaming my friend for his lack of profit was unacceptable.

I won't be going back to that place.

Fixing A Wheel

How hard can it be to fix a broken spoke. I've done it at least a dozen times. In fact, I've built wheels from scratch. I've got a professional grade truing stand. I've got a wheel dishing tool. I've got a spoke tensionometer. I've got every spoke wrench size. So, like I said, how hard could it be?

Well, it seems that if you've got XTR wheels, it can be quite difficult. Shimano decided that they would put a tiny little part called a Hub Nut. It's a tiny little part, about a half inch long that fits into a hole in the hub and is threaded on the inside. The hub side of the spoke screws into the Hub Nut and then because it's slightly flanged, causes the spoke to stay snug in the hub.

But it seems like none of the shops in San Diego has ever had to replace an XTR M975 spoke. I find it hard to believe that no one in the past year has broken a spoke, but that may be the case. One bike shop touted the strength and stiffness of the wheel and that he's never heard of a spoke breaking without some sort of impact. So, he has heard of a spoke breaking, but still, the shop he worked for didn't have the part available.

Dana had the same thing happen on one of our Nobel Canyon rides a few months ago, and he called the bike shop where he had his repaired (North of the Border) to see if they still had any of the hub nuts available. They said that they did. I'm hoping that it is in deed the same part. I've asked a friend to go to lunch today and will see if she can give me a lift over to the shop to buy the part. In the mean time, I've also ordered a pack of 10 from the Trek store (I suppose I could have ordered it from somewhere closer to me, but they were very helpful on the phone--much moreso than any of the other shops I called.

I certainly hope that I can get this silly wheel fixed by Friday night because I want to ride this weekend.

1/September/2008 - Good Intentions, Good Motivations, Bad Luck.

Everything was all ready for a ride at Sycamore Canyon. The bike was on the roof, the clothes were packed, the camelbak filled with water and tools and snacks. All I needed to do was put on some street clothes, grab my keys and hit the road.

This was a Dirt Treader's organized group ride that was scheduled to leave at 8. Since I didn't know the group, I wanted to be early to put the last minute touches on the video camera and personal music, and this and that. I didn't want to be the limiting factor in the group's departure. Amazingly enough, I was heading out the door at 7am ready to jump in the car and make the 25 minute commute to the trail head. As I exited the house I noticed that a spoke on my month old XTR rear wheel was broken with just a 10cm stub sticking out of the rim. I figured I could still ride it, and then I'd stop in at a bike shop and grab a few spokes.

As I drove down the street, I heard a slap, slap, slap sound coming from the rear passenger side. It sounded like I had a flat tire, but it didn't feel like it. I pulled over, got out and looked at the car tire which wasn't flat at all, but there was a screw embedded deeply into the tire. With a 3/4 cm head, I'll assume that the screw itself was probably quite long. So, there went the possibility of the group ride, at least for me.

I took the car to the tire dealer. Fortunately, the one I wanted to take it to was open. The guy said it would take about an hour. So, I grabbed a book and headed to the coffee shop in the building across the parking lot. After an hour, I headed back. As I rounded the corner the guy waved at me like he'd been looking for me all over the place and asked me where the special lug nut bit was to remove the locking lug nut. It hadn't dawned on either of us that the mechanic would need this. The office manager said he went to the coffee shop but didn't see me (I was sitting at the table right next to the door). Anyway, excuse me for thinking that threre is a reason these guys are changing tires. To me, the most logical place to keep the lug nut bit is in the tool bag that hold the lug nut wrench, jack, etc. I've asked several other people and they all say that's where they keep theirs. So, the hour turned into an hour and three-quarters. At least they don't charge for the service. (I guess they figure I'll go back there when I need new tires.)

At this point I figured I'd just go and get my spoke. I drove down to San Diego to Cal Coast Bicycles (along with a price-match for some new 26x2.35 UST tires). I bought 3 drive side and 3 left side or front spokes. At $8 each, it was a bit expensive. And, to top it all of, they didn't have a crucial part: the hub nuts (little flanged threaded nuts that the hub side of the spoke threads into.) These tiny little things apparently get lost when the spoke breaks.) At first I thought Black Mountain Bicycles would be a good place to go--they tend to have parts and sell high-end bikes. But, it was Labor Day, and Black Mountain Bicycles was closed. Leucadia Cyclery was closed. REI didn't have the part. B&L in Solana Beach doesn't carry any MtB parts. By the time I'd been to all these places, I didn't have time to check Amazon Bikes or Mountain Bike Wherehouse up in Oceanside. I am pretty certain that I don't need to check at Performance Bicycles as they seem to only carry lower-end mass-market items, so the chance of them having an obscure XTR part is pretty slim.

So, Labor Day riding was a blow-out for me which really sucks. Now, I'm back to riding on the road until the weekend.