Dachshund gets a Seven

[indysteel]

Oh, you've found me out. I gladly accept advice. This bike is proof!



Yes, and Jobob graciously provided the full scoop, thank you ma'am! Spokes are a big deal - who knew? But you said one thing that stuck out there like a cartoon bubble, "those stock wheels are going to beat you up." Later I thought, I better find out what she meant by that. Here's one of the discussions that covered the technical stuff quite well, a little blast from the past -
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=11971

This bike flies down hills, it was actually pretty startling and I'm still getting used to it.

Hee, hee. That's the thread that I started some time ago that led to my set of custom, SK-recommended, wheels!

I thought I'd share this little antedote. I took my Bianchi into the shop a month ago for a tuneup before my tour in Tennessee. The manager, who is generally a knowledgeable guy, pointed out some "play" in my front wheel that they couldn't adjust out. I got concerned (okay, I kind of freaked out) about whether I was going to find out the hard way that the bearings in my hub were shot.

I researched the issue online a bit, examined the wheel myself and sent an email to SK about whether she had experienced similar issues and then, at my wise BF's advice, called White Industries. A very knowledgeable woman in tech support talked me through it. In the process, I found out that it's okay to have some lateral play at the rim. In fact, it's normal. Where you don't want play is at the hub itself. White Industries' website also has some information about this. My wheel's play was at the rim. I sure slept better that night.

The point in telling you this is that (a) White Industries was very helpful and (b) local shops, no matter how good they are, may not be expert with wheels unless they build them themselves and, even then, it sometimes pays to just go to the source.