This past summer, we had Ride the Rockies and the Bicycle Tour of Colorado pass through our town. Guess which wheels showed up at my shop? Broken spokes, bad freehub bodies, etc., etc.

I can fix nearly anything on a bicycle, but I'm left muttering to myself when I don't have the right kind of spoke or spoke wrench to service these wheels, which all seem to have durability issues when they're put to everyday use.

So if you choose sexy over sensible, you'd better have the correct spoke wrench, extra spokes of correct type and length, and any other miscellaneous parts unique to your wheels. You cannot count on shops having this stuff in stock when you need it.

I have a friend/customer who got "a really good deal" on a set of wheels that shall remain anonymous. One day he had to hitchhike 35 miles back home because he broke one spoke. His wheels require a weird spoke length and a nut driver, so he couldn't do the job on the side of the road.

Normally, a broken spoke isn't a ride-stopper. But his wheels, like many of this type, won't rotate in the frame if even one spoke pops. When you reduce the number of spokes and increase their tension, you are far more likely to suffer catastrophic results when a spoke breaks. End of ride!

So, Chris, do yourself a favor and go with the D-A hubs and the Open Pro rims with 32 holes. Forget looking sexy while you stand by the side of the road with your busted wheels, hoping that whoever stops is not some kind of demento. Chances are, they won't be able to fix your wheels, either.

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Solving Seatpost Seizure

DEAR UNCLE AL:  I love reading your column. It answers a lot of questions and foments a lot of discussion around the post-ride bar, when the beers (hydration replacement) come out. 

When putting an aluminum seatpost in a titanium frame, should one spread Ti Prep on the aluminum to prevent the post from seizing up, or maybe use some other type of lubrication? -- Tom D.

UNCLE AL FIRES BACK:  Ti Prep is fine, Tommy. So is a bit of grease. The key is not so much what you use, but when you use it. Remove the post a couple times a year to make sure it's not seizing. Same for a conventional quill handlebar stem.

This does not apply to carbon seatposts! Grease will impregnate the carbon and make it slippery. It may never stop sliding down into the seat tube.

Those post-ride discussions sure are valuable, aren't they? We have them on Friday nights at the shop even if we haven't ridden.

Foment and ferment go together well. Ever notice that the more you "hydrate," the smarter you become, and you feel compelled to try to contact old girlfriends/ex-wives? The three of us at the shop last night realized there were too many of them and we didn't have enough free phone minutes to get started. So we changed the subject to something slightly less challenging, like getting home. Hydrate on!

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Why Spokes Break

DEAR UNCLE AL:  I really enjoy your rantings. Right on target all of the time. I've got an observation on broken spokes: The way you ride affects spokes.

In 50,000 miles, I've never broken a spoke. Others break them continuously. There's a dude in our club you can hear coming a block away. He has that rrrrh...rrhhh...rrhrhh sound a bad pedaler gets when he pushes hard and rocks his hips badly. That puts great strain on a rear, and he has more broken spokes than anybody in the club. Those of us with higher cadences and round strokes just don't suffer busted spokes.

UNCLE AL FIRES BACK:  You are absolutely right about that, Dave. The smoother you are on the bike, the easier you are on your equipment. Some riders are poetry in motion. Others are like a really bad opera that goes on and on and on....


FEEDBACK FROM TOM O.:  Thinking about wheel woes brought back memories of spoke problems a friend Mark was having. He and I are both around 210 pounds in winter.

Mark is very powerful and can climb like Indurain. The guy was breaking spokes left and right. At that time, he was riding an aluminum Trek 1200. He had this bike for about five years. Sometimes he would complain, "I just can't seem to make this bike go."

After a season of suffering with chronic broken spokes, he acquired a new frame, a Klein Quantum 2. We switched over all of his components, including the wheels. He has not broken a spoke in four years. That old Trek had so much flex in the rear end that when he was climbing (we have a 19% hill that we attack sometimes), you could actually see the rear end flex.

We never put 2+2 together until we noticed that the broken spoke problem was gone. He never complained anymore about not being able to make the bike go, either. His nickname for the Klein is "The Red Rocket." I think that tells the story.

Guys who break lots of spokes might want to take a look at their frame. Maybe it's just whipped and needs to be replaced.

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Lightweight Inner Tubes

DEAR UNCLE AL:  I've been looking at some lightweight inner tubes that are made from butyl and weigh 49 grams. They could cut nearly 140 grams of rotating weight. Do they flat more easily? Lose pressure quickly? -- Rick L.

UNCLE AL FIRES BACK:  Yes and yes, Ricky. Personally, I prefer Michelin latex tubes, which are a bit heavier but don't puncture easily. They lose pressure overnight so you need to pump them before every ride, but they truly enhance tire performance.

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