Broken Hub

I destroy bicycle parts. It is apparently what I do. I cannot tell you how many times I go to the bicycle shop with a broken bicycle part, the staff acts like it is the first time they have ever seen that type of failure. The bike shop does enjoy me a customer because of this strange skill. Saturday it was another first.

Saturday it was a Chris King hub. Chris King makes some of the toughest cycling hubs. Over the years I have gone through so many wheel sets. I have broken Easton, Dura Ace, Mavix Krsyium, and many other wheels. If I got 2,000 miles out of these wheel sets, it was a victory. For the non cycling folks who do read this blog, I have friends that get 15,000 miles on a set of wheels.

Two years ago, my favorite bike mechanic, Gordon, convinced me to have him build me some wheels on Chris King Hubs. He used Mavic Open Pros for the rims, aluminum spokes and brass nipples. I had a solid wheel set. Mavic Open Pros are considered the best rims out there. Strangely this wheel set was relatively cheaper than my prior high performance wheels.

I got 5,000 miles on this set until broke a spoke on the rear wheel last June. I got it rebuilt and kept moving. I broke spokes on the front wheel in December and had it rebuilt. Life was good. I was getting life out of these wheels.

When I did the Dallas Century, my rear wheel started to make all sorts of noise, so I brought into the shop, they cleaned it, and trued it. Life was good.

Saturday, during my ride, the rear wheel suddenly went out of true, so I opened my breaks and got 70 miles in. It was getting frustrating all my friendly cycling buddies telling me that my wheel was wobbling, but they were being kind, so I tried to be polite and say thank you. It was getting difficult to be nice when I was bonking, but I digress.

So I brought my wheel to the shop on Saturday afternoon. It was determined that my hub was loose. When they took my cog set off to put on a loaner wheel, it was discovered that I had cracked the hub in a way that no one had seen before. My wheel was paraded to all the mechanics in the shop as the most amazing thing they had ever seen.

The summation of the event was when they brought the wheel to Gordon, who was with a customer across the room; He looked the crack and then looked at me just shook his head.

On a positive note, they think Chris King will warranty it.