New Front Wheel

Of course you can move a bike wheel on a bike!

I bought a new front wheel today.
Mach 1 240 rim (that's heavy-duty!) with 36 spokes.

The previous front wheel on Mermaid (the original!) has lost all signs of the "wear" grove on BOTH side of the rim!

The final straw was a broken spoke picked up while on the rather worn-out roads that form the basis of next Sunday's "century" ride - I tested the route a few weeks back, and just let me say that anyone who is doing the event on fancy lightweight wheel might get a bit of a surprise!
I could have just replaced the spoke, but the rim really should have been replaced some time ago (!), so I went with a whole new, machine-built, wheel.
Mermaid has only ever had modestly priced machine-built wheels, so this wheel is actually an upgrade (the new rim has a box-section, compared with the single-wall construction of the original)

Just got to fit it now.



It takes a Q/R, and I usually prefer "nutted" wheels, but the shop was out of stock of the ones with nuts.
All things for the best, though - I have to drive to London in three weeks time with the bike in the back of the car (for the BHF London to Brighton Bike Ride). The bike will JUST about fit in (wheels still in place) with the car seats folded and a bit of careful positioning. It might be easier to be able to pop the front wheel off quickly, though!

Sharp-eyed readers will notice that my existing rear wheel also has a Mach 1 240 rim, and for a machine-built wheel with a modest cost (I paid £50/$80/60 euros) for the rear wheel with a freehub) I am very pleased with it.
The matching front wheel came in at £40/$60/50 euros, with a pair of cheap Q/R skewers thrown in, so the price is also modest.

Lets see how it matches up to the tasks ahead!

Update 2nd June 2015:
Fitted the wheel last night.

As usual, I took a bit of time to prepare it
- I rounded off any sharp-looking edges with a small "rat-tail" file (there was a bit of a "step" inside where the join in the wheel is! - just like the Mach 1 240 rim I have on the back!).
Then I smoothed the edge of the hole for the valve with the same mini-file.
Then I fitted a "proper" rim tape - a cloth one, not that lightweight stuff made from fairy wings!

Proper" cloth rim tape

Nice, thick, cloth rim tape goes well with
double-walled rims
(mine are Mach1 240 rims)

After fitting, I just had to adjust the brakes (the wheel has a slightly thicker rim!) and rebalance them.
As I have mentioned before, I retro-fitted a pair of Shimano M590 Deore V-brakes to Mermaid some time ago, and when properly set up, they are pretty powerful.
Then that was about it.

the "free" skewer is of modest quality, with a steel "pin" and alloy ends, but it seems to hold the wheel all right!

Nice to have a job go so simply for a change!