05/16 No flat tires today but I broke another spoke on the rear wheel. There was no wobble in the tire so I kept riding. It broke on the cassette side which would have taken forever to fix. I’m tempted to buy a spoke tension meter in the States. Last time I checked they cost a fortune but I’m going to be in trouble if the wrong spoke breaks at the wrong time. I’ve been lucky so far but I don’t want to push it. They keep breaking at the nipple or the bend which, according to my handy Art of Wheelbuilding PDF, generally means the tension is too low. Ugh.
I might have to make some sad decisions about bringing some things home to drop some weight. The chain for my bike lock is heavy and I could get away with a lighter one. Maybe a pair of shorts and pants could go too. I’ll just run around naked on laundry day. I imagine there’s a couple other things if I looked. What a pain. I had way more weight on the bike when I left Florida and didn’t have a broken spoke for almost 2 years (until after I had to replace the worn rims).
I’m sure going to miss Mollepata. I slept for over 12 hours last night. There were no stupid dogs barking, no roosters, no loud neighbors, no loud hostel managers/workers, no church bells, no car alarms and no traffic. It was bliss. Leaving the village I could actually see Pallasca which might have been the first time on my entire trip that I could see the place I was planning to spend the night. Line of sight distance between the two villages is under 5 miles. Being able to see the entire section of road I’d be riding for the day was weird. I like not knowing better. Looking down into the valley and then up at Pallasca gave me a little WTF moment.
The road wasn’t the greatest but not quite as bad as yesterday. From the bottom of the valley it was 14 miles and 3260 feet up to Pallasca. Big climbs are sure easier on pavement but I prefer the dirt–the reward is greater.
I’m going to stay here tomorrow to see about fixing my broken spoke and relax for a day. Maybe Karin and Marten will catch up to me. There are 2 hostels in town on the very well-maintained plaza (a guy said there are 3 but I didn’t see it). The not so fancy hostel is $3.50 and the room is huge. Hot water in the shared bathroom. The view from outside my window is amazing.
Update: Spoke fixed. Hope I don’t start getting too god at fixing them. Lot’s of pictures to upload but the internet is soooooo slow.
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Hi Scott, good to see you’re still pedalling along! Sorry to hear about your wheel trouble. Were your wheels handbuilt? We’ve found good, handbuilt wheels generally have a lot fewer spoke problems than cheaper wheels. Maybe that’s a better investment than a spoke tension meter. Another idea might be to get a spoke key and just tighten everything up by 1/4 to 1/2 a turn. Start at the valve hole so you know where you started and go right around the wheel. When you do that, you’ll see if any spokes are particularly loose, and you can tighten those a bit more. Of course now you’re getting into truing territory (don’t know how comfortable you are with that). You might also just want to hand the wheel over to a decent bike mechanic in the next big city and let him tweak it.
Good luck!!
Hey Friedel. Yep, both wheels were handbuilt. As I’ve discovered quite a few things need to come into play in order to get a wheel properly built. The skill of the bike mechanic, the quality of the rim, the quality of the spokes/nipples and the right tools. The issue this last time was likely medium quality spokes and the mechanic not have a tension meter to get things set right. Some mechanics can probably get by without one but I think they are pretty rare. The spokes I was kind of stuck with since getting anything really good (DT Swiss, etc.) would have taken a while and the mechanic probably didn’t know what was best for a loaded touring bike anyway (and I don’t either).
I wish I could go back and get the same wheel I left Florida with 2 years ago but the bike shop ripped me off so using their wheel builder is out. I might end up posting something on bikeforums.net and seeing if anyone knows a good builder and can recommend the best rim/spokes. I’m due to be in Florida for a visit in month or so. Maybe I can bring something back with me. I did do what you suggested and tightened everything up a 1/2 turn. So far so good but I need a bit of truing. It can wait until I land in a city though.