Close up of the broken hubfull size
The top half of the wheelfull size
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I am a mountain bike rider at heart. I find the activity far more
fun/challenging/enjoyable than road riding. I do however ride a road bike a
bit. I bought my first road bike at around August 2002, more than 10 years
after becoming addicted to the sport of cycling and mountain biking more
specifically. I spend most of my disposable income on replacing broken mtb
parts and cycling events and gear in general.
From the above you an imagine I am quite happy that although I own a road
bike, they tend not to break often, road bikes can do many thousands of KM,
and only wear out tyres. This is a good thing, however from time to time
things on the road bike break. This is one of those times.
On Saturday morning, Sue, Crash,
DeathMarch,
Allan,
Marea, myself and a bunch
of others headed from Bright over to Myrtleford (a pleasant flat 30 KM along
the Rail Trail) for a breakfast of
bakery goodness. At this point all was fine with my bike.
About half way back to Bright after breakfast I heard a crack noise and my
front wheel jammed in the fork. At first I simply thought I had run over a
branch and a stick had lodged between my front tyre and fork crown. Upon
stopping this proved to be an incorrect assumption. The front hub had cracked
and three spokes came loose.
I am not particularly upset, the front wheel came with the bike when I bought
it second hand, in the last two and a half years I have probably put close to
20,000 KM into this bike. The guy who owned it before me bought it some time
around 1996 and I suspect put far more KM in than I do (he is a lot fitter and
faster, which often means more road riding).
Anyway the wheel is dead, and I have to spend money on my road bike. I am
currently most tempted by a
Campagnolo
Centaur 32 hole front hub, double
butted dt spokes, a reasonably light rim, maybe
ritchey or
velocity or similar
(as previously mentioned
I don't really
like Mavic) all laced up with a three cross pattern (strong, reliable,
etc). The hub costs about AUD $200, the rim probably AUD $100. Bike stuff
costs a lot, oh well.
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