Help, I broke my bike (well a bit of it)

Last night I decided to give the bike a good clean, in the vain hope that all the rain is over for a while.

Bought a new can of degreaser and gave it a good polish. Wheels off and scrubbed, chain made shiny, brakes adjusted, the works.

As I was re-tensioning the chain, trouble struck. Try as I might, I couldn't get the wheel to line up straight withe the chain tight. Then something dropped to the floor, I looked down and saw half a washer shaped thing - fuck, I broke something.

I have no idea how I did it, but the bit that grips to the drop out from the inside of the frame , not the track nut, has snapped in two.

Does anyone know whether this ia common problem or if I am an idiot? Also, how do I fix it? Can I buy the washer thingy on it's own and do I need any special tools to thread it onto my hub?

Ideally want to get it fixed in time for CM tomorrow...

Cheers,

Matt

I think you are refering to the locknut to the cone. If so you should just go down a bike shope they should sell you one. Just spin it on.
Take the wheel though a threads do vary.

Yes it does happen.

Common problem... lock nut right?

http://www.londonfgss.com/discussion/40/iro-hubs-anyone-got-a-spare-er-nut-thing/

Condor or most LBS's that have fixed stuff will be able to provide spares. Get a couple, I've gone through a few.

Brilliant, thanks Brick. :-)

Oh, and thanks DaveK, nice pics.

I'll grab a handful and stop feeling like a muppet.

Might I put in a vote that from now on al Forza, cheap Condor, Ambrossio's or whatever the hell they are called hubs are going to be boycotted. These things always snap, had it myself and heard from loads of people with the same problem.

are formula and diatech hubs the same? it looks like miche and goldtec are the starting point for decent hubs?

Miche and goldtec are pretty different on price - pair of Miche are about £55, pair of Goldtec are about £125. I don't really think that Miche are significantly better than formula etc, maybe a slight improvement though.

Would also lump in Suzue Pro Max (still in plentyful supply in the UK) and Dia Compe Gran Compe (allegedly built with the same machining as the Suzues) as decent cheapish hubs that are worth your money.

You would have thing that Formula would have sorted out this locknut problem by now, but I guess even if they had, theres still thousands of their hubs out there.

How tight are you going with your track nuts? Ouch! Get some tugnuts if you're losing tension so often you need to kill locknuts for it..
System-Ex still working..

common as muck

same here, (on Ambrosio) both sides split in two, found some replacements off a bmx hub.

now it's goldtecs. I don't tolerate failure on my bike parts...

I picked up a couple of replacements and now all is well again.

I just know that when it happens again I will have forgotten where I put my new spare... Doh.