Aarrgghh! For the first time in at least nine years, and only the second time since 1982 so far as I can recall, I am without my bicycle.
The rim of the rear wheel has developed a crack in the side wall and for various reasons, most of which come down to my having a somewhat old fashioned bike, my best option turned out to be to have the local bike shop build a new wheel from the existing hub and a new rim1. This could take 10 days or more since, like most bike shops, they’re always busy.
I’ve only been without the bike for a day and already feel as if a bit of my life is missing. I’ll just have to get used to travelling by bus and Tube for the next week or so. Ho-hum.
1 I just hope that the wheel builder doesn’t baulk at building a wheel on the hub when he has a good look at it; in my view it’s serviceable but in his it may not be.
Posted 6 September 2008, 17:45 BST
