It's a good thing I am on spring break, as this gave me the chance to take care of repairing these spokes immediately. Now, I have about 525 miles on my Trek, and I am a hefty rider. As an FYI, this is not a good combo. Reading in various cycling forums for us "clydesdales" (male cyclists over 250 lbs.) it seems that a lot of the stock rims have issues after 500 miles or so.
This was a good realization to have, especially since I have already replaced one broken spoke. So now, I had two more spokes to replace, which would be 3 out of 36. At the local bike shop (LBS), we put a little stress on the remaining ones and two more broke. Now, I'm looking at this from the perspective of 5/36 are broken, which is essentially one-sixth. I figure that if this much is going, how long before the rest of them? So, in the long run, it would be cheaper to replace the whole rim and get another 500 miles rather than replacing a few spokes here and there. The major drawback is that I will have to get it trued in about another month or so. Again, this is still cheaper in the longrun, in my opinion.
I also took the liberty of picking up some new brake cables and cable housings for my Puch. As I was working on it the other night, I realized that all of this needs to be replaced. After I get that done, I will see about replacing the gear cables. Until that time, I just need to make sure that the bike is good and rideable. I will try and get all of this done today/tonight, but I still have to get a bike ride.
In other news, on a personal note, my wife and I went looking at houses yesterday. We didn't find "the one," but we have identified at least 3 houses that we both like. We are keeping our options open, but are really hoping to help out the economy by purchasing a house before the summer is out. Is it sad that I'm keeping ease and accessibility of cycling as a major factor in my half of the decision making process?
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