jppe

Riding Tour de Wyoming this week. On an impulse I shipped my spare bike, Trek 5900 to do the tour. I had not ridden it in 3-4 years. Incredibly nice route but lots of cattle guards that are designed for Bison so the bars are further apart than normal. Very rough crossing them. I was jolted so hard on one of them a lens on a tailight fell off.

I was hearing a faint sound at slow speeds that reminded me of a cracked rim. Checked it at the end of the ride and sure enough it was cracked petty good just below a drive side spoke on the rear wheel. There weren't any repair options today so nursed it for today's 60 miler, including a climb up to Mt Rushmore. I'm convinced the cattle guards caused it.

I picked up a loaner in Rapid City so I'm good for the rest of the tour. But I probably added a lot of wheel weight!!

Great route so far. Custer State Park, Wind Cave, Needles Highway and Mt Rushmore. Gotta love seeing the USA by bike and camping! Enjoyed some good beers and wine as well.

Anyone else cracked a wheel or had bike mechanicals away from home?

Mobile 155

What kind of rim?

OldsCOOL

Were you heavy loaded or is this a supported tour? That's a nasty sort of thing you cant ignore. Glad you found the loaner to get by on. Hope the rest of your tour is successful!

JimF22003

On Bike Virginia a couple of weeks ago I broke the flange of a Zipp rear hub, which left one spoke with nowhere to connect. I had the mechanic zip tie the spoke so it wouldn't wander, and then he re-trued the wheel as best he could. I decided to just ride with it that way to see what would happen. I got another 160 miles out of it with no further problems, fortunately.

big john

On a cross country tour in 1990 a pedal bearing disintgrated (cheap quill pedals) in Wyoming. One of the other guys had a tube of grease so I packed it with grease for two days until we got to Rock Springs, where there was a bike shop and they sold me some pedals off of a floor display bike.
Somewhere in Missouri my bottom bracket started clunking, it was a cartridge type and it got worn down. I had a stubby screwdriver and I borrowed a hammer from the motel we stayed at and I got it apart and wrapped it with teflon tape and hammered it back together. It worked!

On a 9 day tour around Oregon with my ex-wife I broke a drive side spoke miles from anything. Having broken spokes and wheels for years I had extra spokes with me, and a cassette-******* to remove the 7 speed screw-on cog. My wife was slightly annoyed by the delay.
Same trip, we went through some gravel and both double flatted. 4 flats at once! Again, she said something like "How long is this going to take?"

reverborama

I've ridden every one of those locations on a motorcycle and, if you've never been there, I can't adequately describe how beautiful it is. But there are VERY few flat roads! So chapeau to you for making it up and down all those climbs! I better see a picture of your bike framed in a tunnel on Needles with Mt. Rushmore in the background! Last time I was there I asked one of the park rangers if there was a tour of the secret spy landing strip (from North By Northwest). There isn't.

But, yes, those buffalo guards really creep me out. They are so smooth, like trolley tracks, except there are a dozen of them right in a row. I can believe you cracked a rim on them. I've never had that bad a mechanical that far from home. I'm assuming your "loaner" is a spare rear wheel? What tires were you running? I'd really want 28's or 32's for those roads.

I hope you get the opportunity to ride Spearfish Canyon. I'd rate that as the most beautiful road I've ever been on anywhere.

fietsbob

LBS Here, provides service for the Touring cyclists all summer long .
Occasionally cannibalizing a wheel off a new bike on the sales floor if the usual spares are not suitable .

Touring, I cracked a (steel) frame, on ring of Kerry, and had it repaired in Ireland in a shop that welded together Stainless steel HVAC/Ductwork.

Biker395 

OMG jppe ... you are going to LOVE the pigtail turns on the Needles Highway.

I am insanely jealous. I did that road many moons ago and loved it!



Regale us with any pix you have!

Oh, and my "fix it however you can" touring story involved using vegetable oil (all that was available) to fix a squeak that was driving me nuts.

andr0id

Ran a giant spiral framing nail through a tire, tube and rim out in the middle of nowhere once. Had to call my wife to recover me as the nail was stuck in the rim too tight to remove it with the tools I had. I patched it up with some JB Weld and rode it for a long time after that though.

I've had spokes break and taco a back wheel, but haven't had that happen lately.

big john

I've put sunscreen on the chain after water crossings on the mtb. Put Chapstick on my cleats when the creaking got to be too much.

jppe

I actually took some video riding through one of the tunnels (Iron Mtn??) where Mt Rushmore is in the background. Not much very flat around here but what a great ride. I took a side trip over to Deadwood. In Spearfish tonight-Devils Tower tomorrow.

jppe

The pigtails were a blast....plus the engineer in us recognized their function, beauty etc.

jppe

HED Ardennes so a lightweight wheel. The 32 spoke Mavic Open Pro with 32 spokes feels like an anchor but rock solid. No Complaints about getting a wheel.

Supported tour but very heavily loaded with my big butt!!!!!

OldsCOOL

Glad you found a good wheel and back on the road. Layovers and breakages are frustrating.

Retro Grouch 

I have a personal friend who cracked a 48 spoke tandem rim while on a tour. He disassembled his front wheel so he could lace that rim onto his rear hub then bought a common front wheel so they could finish the trip.

baron von trail 

Yep. Spoke tear-out while riding in another state. Got lucky, found an lbs which had a wheel and some time to swap out the cassette for me. Lost one day though.

Old School

With your kind of luck, I wouldn't bother buying any lottery tickets!