In a message dated 7/1/01 3:56:26 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Wornoutguy@aol.com writes:
> Boy they built stuff to last back then.
Actually, they build stuff NOT to last now. Makes sense, from a certain perspective.
On a recent rec.bikes.tech thread on the relative merits of 28 vs higher count spoked wheels, the idea that a rider can recover from a single broken spoke on a 36 spoke wheel, but not on a 28 (or less), was met with derision. The general feeling amoung modern riders seems to be that if a spoke breaks (or "brakes" as it is often spelled by these folks), it is time to replace the wheel with a new one ! :-)
No wonder our only local bike shop called me over to pick up a huge mess of NOS spokes they were discarding today. Yumm ! Now I get to sort them...
[Got a 20+ mile ride in this afternoon with Aaron stoking the Santana Elan tandem. Afterwards, went to the local Urgent Care and got my puncture wound re-packed. I am NOT going to let this stop me from riding !]
Glenn Jordan - a retrogrouch in Durham, NC