Stupid %$#@$ Commuting

Road about 4 blocks from work on my way home tonight on the MTB. Took
off from a set of lights and the back wheel grinds me to a halt. I
thought something weird had ahppened with the rear caliper. Stuffed
around with it for a while, and ended up disconnecting the rear brake
ready for a slow trip home, and this time rather than rubbing against
the brake pads the wheel is rubbing against the frame and very wobbly.
Walked back to work and while waiting for the bike ambulance to get
through peak hour and pick me up discovered the problem was that I'd
snapped the rear axle, nice clean break too. Maybe I should buy a new
MTB to match OCR2 from the weekend. My claim is I've gained too much
strength from the Warrandyte ride, although others have claimed the axle
gave out over excessive weight over the years.

DaveB

DaveB Wrote:
Road about 4 blocks from work on my way home tonight on the MTB. Took
off from a set of lights and the back wheel grinds me to a halt. I
thought something weird had ahppened with the rear caliper. Stuffed
around with it for a while, and ended up disconnecting the rear brake
ready for a slow trip home, and this time rather than rubbing against
the brake pads the wheel is rubbing against the frame and very wobbly.
Walked back to work and while waiting for the bike ambulance to get
through peak hour and pick me up discovered the problem was that I'd
snapped the rear axle, nice clean break too. Maybe I should buy a new
MTB to match OCR2 from the weekend. My claim is I've gained too much
strength from the Warrandyte ride, although others have claimed the
axle
gave out over excessive weight over the years.

DaveB

Broken axle... I had one of those on an old Kmart bike once - 6 speed
freewheel that decided to break an axle in the middle of nowhere. I
then decided to upgrade. I'm guessing you weren't using an old
freewheeler, in which case it's probably from jumping over cars and
down stairs and whatever else you crazy MTB'ers do

I had my own mechanical last night as well. Sydney was as windy as a v.
windy thing and a piece of plastic, like shrink wrap for packaging,
about a metre long flew into my chain and was quickly wrapped up around
the cassette and derailer before I could stop. Fortunately, it didn't
lock the wheel up. However, I did take ten minutes to pull the stuff
out of the derailer, leaving me with lovely black hands. To add insult
to injury, the strong wind was a dead straight headwind... grrr.

Ritch


--
ritcho

ritcho wrote:

Broken axle... I had one of those on an old Kmart bike once - 6 speed
freewheel that decided to break an axle in the middle of nowhere. I

erm cough cough mumble mumble... this was also a KMart bike but it has
served me well over the past 8 years and commuting over the past 3
years. Although I did replace rims, brakes and tyres. Next years tax
return maybe.

DaveB

DaveB Wrote:
ritcho wrote:

Broken axle... I had one of those on an old Kmart bike once - 6
speed
freewheel that decided to break an axle in the middle of nowhere. I

erm cough cough mumble mumble... this was also a KMart bike but it has
served me well over the past 8 years and commuting over the past 3
years. Although I did replace rims, brakes and tyres. Next years tax
return maybe.

DaveB

how many speed is it. got a few old wheels lieing about that your
welcome to :-)


--
flyingdutch

ritcho wrote in message

Broken axle... I had one of those on an old Kmart bike once - 6 speed

Doesn't just apply to K-mart bikes, either. My old seven speed
(freewheel) bike, with Campy hubs, breaks rear axles if you look at it
wrong. Cassettes are the best invention ever, IMHO. Except for fixed
gear, of course, which does away with the whole problem of silly axle
overhang.

Regards,

Suzy

On 3 Aug 2004 23:34:36 -0700, Suzy Jackson Wrote :
ritcho wrote in message

Broken axle... I had one of those on an old Kmart bike once - 6 speed

Doesn't just apply to K-mart bikes, either. My old seven speed
(freewheel) bike, with Campy hubs, breaks rear axles if you look at it

And yet my old touring bike has had Campag hubs without broken axles for
over 25 years. It's carried heavy loads over some pretty awful roads in
that time, not to mention commuting and shopping etc. It's a 6 speed
freewheel for which I badly need new sprockets. Making a 6 speed cluster
of 13-34 (13, 16, 19, 23, 28, 34) is looking to be impossible meaning
a change of hubs, a cold set of the frame, new chain rings and because
of that probably new cranks, etc.

wrong. Cassettes are the best invention ever, IMHO. Except for fixed

Cassettes are an invention of the devil - IMHO of course...:-)



--

Humbug

"Suzy Jackson" wrote in message
om...
ritcho wrote in message

Broken axle... I had one of those on an old Kmart bike once - 6 speed

Doesn't just apply to K-mart bikes, either. My old seven speed
(freewheel) bike, with Campy hubs, breaks rear axles if you look at it
wrong. Cassettes are the best invention ever, IMHO. Except for fixed
gear, of course, which does away with the whole problem of silly axle
overhang.

Regards,

Suzy

I read somewhere once that Campag hubs were more susceptible to broken hubs
than Shimano because of the bearing placement inside the hubs. Consequently
the Campag hubs are built heavier to compensate for this weakness. I did
look at the weights of hubs and the Shimano ones were lighter than the
Campags (this only applies to the rear hubs of course.) Shimano wouldn't let
Campag use the better design. I don't know if this situation is still valid,
I read it about two years ago, maybe on Sheldons site.


Marty

Well, on the topic of %$#@$ commuting, I turned my MTB into a three
speed today by accident - and i mean that literally...

Buzzing across the Yarra at Bridge Rd end to have some poor girl in the
Laser in front decide to be spontaneous and nice and pick up her friend
at the tram stop outside Dick Smith. Unfortunately, she didn't see me
on her tail and about to enter the bike lane that starts there.

Face plant into hatch, followed by 'fun' little skid along the
bitumen... I think the girl was more traumatised than I was, and
methinks she won't be getting much work done today. Me? I was most
concerned for my lovely Ground Effect jacket, which amazingly survived
with nary a tear. A few grazes and bruises for me, and tore out the
barrel adjuster and cable on the rear shifter... I'll be sore tonight,
but it could've been a lot worse.


--
eddiec

eddiec Wrote:
Well, on the topic of %$#@$ commuting, I turned my MTB into a three
speed today by accident - and i mean that literally...

Buzzing across the Yarra at Bridge Rd end to have some poor girl in the
Laser in front decide to be spontaneous and nice and pick up her friend
at the tram stop outside Dick Smith. Unfortunately, she didn't see me
on her tail and about to enter the bike lane that starts there.

Face plant into hatch, followed by 'fun' little skid along the
bitumen... I think the girl was more traumatised than I was, and
methinks she won't be getting much work done today. Me? I was most
concerned for my lovely Ground Effect jacket, which amazingly survived
with nary a tear. A few grazes and bruises for me, and tore out the
barrel adjuster and cable on the rear shifter... I'll be sore tonight,
but it could've been a lot worse.
hate to say it but werent you in the wrong?
tailgating, hitting from rear

stiil, coulda been worse. you coulda emualated Jazmo!


--
flyingdutch

flyingdutch Wrote:
hate to say it but werent you in the wrong?
tailgating, hitting from rear

stiil, coulda been worse. you coulda emualated Jazmo!

I immediately questioned if I'd been in the wrong, but no... I wasn't
that close to her (although in future I think I'll keep even more
distance), and in reality I was off to her left, about to head into the
bike lane that started a few metres from there. She saw her friend, got
spontaneous, and yanked over to the left, hit the brakes, and the
indicator at the same time, not giving me a heap of options...


--
eddiec