Dennis, in some devious way, I enjoyed the story...probably
appreciating that I'm not the only one who has things break.
I like the tech talk, although I don't fully understand the
advantages of internal gearing. Just out of curiosity, what kind of
bike are you driving? I'm on a Schwinn Impact Pro; yes, it's an old
mountain bike. I'm fortunate enough to have a commute on some dirt
roads.
As for the wheel...if your kid doesn't miss it, I don't think it's
stolen. The kid will probably either return home with a new bicycle
or never notice the wheel is gone from the old one.
Have a good ride home; it's a nice day here in the east.
Al

--- In bicyclecommuting@yahoogroups.com, "dennisthebald"
<dennisthebald@...> wrote:
>
> I had a wheel failure on the way in this morning. While I was
moving
> towards the left turn lane at the intersection of two three laners.
> Had to pick it up and carry it off, then call for air support.
>
> I broke some spokes several months ago, I bought some new ones and
> fully intended to lace 'em in one of these days. In the meantime I
> borrowed the wheel off of one of my kids' bikes (the one off to
> college). I didn't adjust the derailliuer and I just unhooked the
> rear brake as it was only a temporary thing. The wheel didn't have
> one of those nifty little plastic spoke protectors and I wasn't
about
> to pull the cassette off to put one on, not for the short time that
I
> was gonna be using this strange stuff - it was supposed to be a
pretty
> brief affair.
>
> Now I gotta replace spokes on both wheels.
> How long can you borrow parts off of one bike before they're really
> stolen? I'm thinking that infernal gearing is the answer on my
daily
> dose, so much less adjusting and stuff, maybe 8-in-the-hub and a
> schlumpf up front. And since the chain would always be on the same
> path cover that sucker completely up, route it internally through
the
> boom - yeah now you're talking.
>