As you, my reader knows, I installed my winter tyres and after replacing a spoke, then “trued” my back wheel last Sunday. Unfortunately, the wobble has redeveloped and my new tyres are rubbing on my mudguards, front and back, being larger in size than the previous incumbents. They’re 700 x 37c compared to 700 x 28c, quite a shift in size.

So once again I had to forego my early morning ride, and put my mechanic’s hat on. I was out in my outdoor workshop ( the back patio ). It was dry but cold, we had a bit of a frost overnight, but not that bad on my fingers.

I don’t have a truing stand, so my “attempt” at sorting out the wobble in the back wheel had to be done in situ i.e., in the frame using the brake pads as my guides. This had to be done with my Pioneer upside down, as I don’t have a work stand either. I’d watched a video on U-tube re wheel truing,  by bikemanforu, so was fairly “confident”.

I set myself up, I should have taken a picture, sat on the garden bench with the backwheel between my legs, sitting on my work waterproof jacket, because of the frost, and started spinning the wheel. It was easy to spot the wobble, and I marked the area where the wheel spokes were to be adjusted.

It didn’t go to plan, as I kept getting confused about which way was tightening or loosening the spoke nipples, but I seemed to be making progress, as the wobble lessened in size. But then it got worse again, so I got myself a cup of tea, and regrouped. I decided, that, obviously I had begun tightening when I should have been loosening, and that a bit more concentration would see me right the situation.

By now the skies were blue, and I became distracted watching the various birds using my next door neighbour’s bird feeders. I spotted chaffinches, robins, blackbirds, hedge sparrows, house sparrows, blue tits, great tits, a coal tit and even a nuthatch……..brilliant. All in the space of 20 minutes.

When I got back to my truing, things went much better, and I soon had the wobble down to a minimum, not perfectly true, but it no longer rubbed the brake pads and the wheel spun freely. Success!

It was then that I thought how fantastically well the front wheel has served me. The back wheel had been replaced last year, because of Halfords incompetence. Must be 10,000 plus miles on it now, never a broken spoke, and not a kink in it. With its Mavic rims and parallax hubs, it sits perfectly in the front forks and just spins and spins when you set it in motion, that’s engineering for you. No maintenance skills on my part, save for a bit of lubricant here and there. What a wonderful creation/invention the wheel is.

Back to my bike, I went on and adjusted the front and rear mudguards, almost to the limit of their supports, and got the tyres moving without rubbing.

I was all done by 09.00, after a quick sortie up and down the street, for a test run AOK!

Got that smug smile on my face again, I love being a “mechanic”.

Cheers.