When Jockey Wheels Explode

Interesting experience today...

Was riding along at a nice, good clip when my chain fell off.

"That's strange," I though, as I pulled off to the sidewalk. Upon
investigating what happened I noticed that my top jockey wheel (you
might call it a "pulley") was missing. Gone. Nowhere to be found. The
screw, however, was still there, hanging on for dear life.

Upon retracing my path for the past 100 feet, I actually FOUND the
damned thing! That, in itself, was a small miracle. One of the washers
was missing, however, but enough was remaining for me to limp home.

This would have been a pretty easy fix, except I hadn't brought my tools
with me, which meant I had to do my best to screw in the jockey screws
BY HAND. For anyone who's tried to do this, you know how tough it can be.

This firmly implanted in my mind the importance of carrying at least a
minimal tool kit.

I'm off to the LBS now, to buy a replacement jockey wheel. And maybe a
tool bag, also. :-)

----------------------------
Bill Henry

Check out my Takara Road Bike:
http://home.comcast.net/~billhenry2/takara/takara.html

In article ,
Bill Henry writes:
Interesting experience today...

Was riding along at a nice, good clip when my chain fell off.

"That's strange," I though, as I pulled off to the sidewalk. Upon
investigating what happened I noticed that my top jockey wheel (you
might call it a "pulley") was missing. Gone. Nowhere to be found. The
screw, however, was still there, hanging on for dear life.

Did the jockey wheel actually fragment? (Those things
are tougher than Ol' Nick.) Or did the screw undo enough
to release it? I'm guessing the latter, since you were
able to cobble together some sort of roadside repair.

Upon retracing my path for the past 100 feet, I actually FOUND the
damned thing! That, in itself, was a small miracle.

G-d loves ya :-)

One of the washers
was missing, however, but enough was remaining for me to limp home.

This would have been a pretty easy fix, except I hadn't brought my tools
with me, which meant I had to do my best to screw in the jockey screws
BY HAND. For anyone who's tried to do this, you know how tough it can be.

This firmly implanted in my mind the importance of carrying at least a
minimal tool kit.

I'm off to the LBS now, to buy a replacement jockey wheel. And maybe a
tool bag, also. :-)

Maybe a spare jockey wheel & screw, too.
I've got a bucketful of old rear derailleurs.
Maybe I'll do the same.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Tom Keats wrote:

Did the jockey wheel actually fragment? (Those things
are tougher than Ol' Nick.) Or did the screw undo enough
to release it? I'm guessing the latter, since you were
able to cobble together some sort of roadside repair.

Yeah, it just came unscrewed. The wheel itself was fine. It's fixed
now and seems to be better, but it was almost a long walk home.