There has been some play in the rear wheel of my bike, some creaking and groaning, especially once the wheel had flexed a bit from riding. I thought I might have a loose spoke, but upon inspecting the  bike a few months back, I noticed some small cracks in the carbon-fiber, aka plastic rim. I knew there was some play in the rim, and I thought it could be bearing were bad. Though the play wasn’t causing the wheel to hit the brake disk, which only made it clearer it was the rim. And today it got really bad. Visibly bad, two spokes, one was especially pulling through the rim.

I need a new rear wheel for the bike. I could replace only the rim, but I know the shop will recommend against that. I tried tighting the remaining spokes but it only make the wheel less true and I either broke a spoke in the process or it was already broke.  Started having issues during the winter with the hard riding on all the pock-marked ice on the bike trail and elsewhere. That’s when I first started hearing the occasional creaking noise, which had in more recent times become a more clicking and cracking noise. Once I discovered the cracks in the rim, I knew I would need a new wheel but figured at this point, I might as well get whatever life I can get out of the wheel.

I’m going to drive in tomorrow, and go to the bike shop at lunch time. I’ll talk to them, but I think they’ll recommend a new wheel. I see what they want to charge for a new wheel installed, but honestly I think I can install it myself. Just need to move the cassette and brake over to the new wheel. I’ve pulled and installed cassettes a few times now so I have the tool and experience to do that. Not a big deal. I was looking at the brake disk, and it’s a 6-bolt brake, but it looks like the disc is removed from the hub assembly, by just removing the six bolts with an hex wrench. Not rocket science. They do recommend thread locked on the bolts and they have a torque specification though I think I can just reasonably hand tight them.

The new wheel ain’t cheap, probably in the $100-$200 range, especially now with the tarrifs. But I have the money and I enjoy riding to work. It certainly saves on gas, and probably even on bus fares. It makes me happy when I get to and from work. It keeps me healthy. And like anything on a bike, ti’s a wear part. I’ll see what they want to charge for labor and the time schedule, but I think it would be better for me to do the work and master yet another skill. It’s not like I won’t have to eventually replace those disks, and being able to safely pull and re-install them means I can do my own rear-spokes in the future when they break. And I can salvage spokes off the old wheel.

It really saves money doing your own bike work. I am not against supporting local small businesses, and there are some who believe you should pay people to wipe your ass in the bathroom. But if it’s something I can figure out reasonably well, and do a decent job myself, I’d rather handle it myself. Not just to save money, but because I won’t have to wait for the shop to get around to do it, although this shop usually is pretty quick.  From the farm channels I watch, I can tell you professional dairy farmers have mechanics on dial, even though they do some of the work themselves, when they have tools and knowledge to do it themselves. Not because they hate mechanics or spending money, but it takes valuable time and money to haul equipment to the mechanic, and that down time for equipment can be really bad for a farm, especially during harvest time.

Will my work be perfect? No. Maybe if I had not played with tightening the other spokes on the rear wheel after I got home I could have gotten a bit more life out of it, maybe that other spoke wouldn’t have snapped, but I have my doubts. Several spokes were pulling through the rim, and the rim was loaded with cracks. Those cracks have been developing for some time, but it had gotten so sloppy on the way home I was concerned I would make it home without pushing the bike home.

Also the derailuer isn’t perfect, I’ve noticed a lot of chain slack in certain gears, I think it’s either bent or the spring in it is bad. But it’s not impacting my riding enough to make a difference, but when it gets bad, I’ll either see if I can adjust it or replace the part myself. Probably just like the woke bike shop would do. If you squint at the bike after all the miles riding trail and especially commuting, noting is squint on the bike. But as Big Red mechanic likes to say, nothing is ever perfect on a big jacked up truck, and sometimes it’s okay to ignore little things that aren’t critical to fix at this moment.