Late 80s Gazelle Tour Populair

Glad to hear it lives! I should really sort out my Dutch roadster as a shopping bike, but that would involve pulling it out of the back of the shed and re-tensioning the rear wheel; I'm not sure whether I've got a suitable spoke key.

Bastard rear wheel slipped a few weeks back. Think I've solved that problem by tightening my nuts. (Did it outside the Vauxhall Tavern, on my commute back home; weak pun intended).

Then last week the bastard front wheel slipped in the dropouts. Wheel nut and axle threads both look a bit worse for wear. Could be because the wheel nuts were 3/8in (not actually sure) on an axle designed for 9mm. Difficult to tell until some new 9mm nuts arrive in the post.

Yep. 9mm nuts fit snug. So there you go, kids. Don't mistake a 3/8in nut for a 9mm nut. That 0.525mm makes all the difference.

How long before the next breakdown I wonder? Not sure there's much left to break or replace.

Not sure there's much left to break or replace.

Aaaaaand....three broken spokes on the rear wheel.

Can bikes get coronavirus? Coz if they can, this one will.

You should never remove rim tape, should you? Ignorance being bliss and all.

Some of these spokes are protruding 3mm beyond the nipples. All the nipple washers are badly rusted. Some rusted all the way through. Then at the hub end, some of the spokes are almost pulling through the eyelets.

Going to replace all those oval washers and add some hub-end washers to the most dodgy looking spokes.

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