At the beginning of the season I bought a beautiful teal 1988 Trek 1000 and have been riding the hell out of it. Unfortunately all that riding has come at a price, Ive ruined two rear wheels(rims) over the span of a few months.

I know I can tuck my tail and head back into the shop to have them lace me up a new wheel (they got me back on the road for a good price the first time) but I'd like to take a stab at building a wheel myself.

So my question, how hard is it to build a wheel?

• I've watched the park tools wheel building and truing videos and I'm sure they make it look easier than it really is.
• There's a few shops around me that do "open shop" hours a few times a week that i plan on taking advantage of if i actually do this.
• I also looked at just getting a new wheelset but then discovered the freewheel vs cassette change and the old hub width is the old 126mm standard and decided it might be easier if i just learned to lace a wheel and put a new rim on.

(I guess I'm actually just looking for some encouragement, tips)

We're about 3 months into this little experiment and we recently passed 100!

I think I'm going to play with having one of these chat threads pinned to the top and rotate them out every month or so depending on reception. Passing 100 seems like a good excuse to try this.

I'd love for folks to drop in and say hi, and maybe share a ride you enjoyed over the summer!

Tour De Grid
09/09/2023 10:00am

See you at wicker park (Schiller and Damen) for a taste of the grid!

RESCHEDULED TO THE 27th!

Robust community inputters! We are tired of the City drawing up plans that don’t do enough to protect vulnerable road users.

Even worse? When they consider it and toss out protected lanes because…parking? It’s challenging?

Unacceptable! It’s time to jam it up.

Glad to see more folks coming over to The Fedi!
Show them some ❤and give 'em a follow.

I've also added their account to the sidebar for future reference.

McSweeney's bringing some hard truths with this one. We could all be doing better.

You forgot to go back in time and tell people that subsidizing the oil industry might be a bad idea.
When the oil and auto industries teamed up to bend public policy to their will, making a system of roads and parking lots that now function as a continuous subsidy and magnificent symbol of the normalization of injury and pollution, you had a lot of options. You could have objected. You could have shifted public opinion. Instead, you weren’t even born yet. And, rather than go back in time, all you’ve been doing is riding to get groceries and occasionally saying, “Please stop killing us.” On the effort scale? 1/10.

My first Street Calling Ride!

This ride was a lot of fun, I loved riding through the city at night with a big crowd. The turnout was great, I'd say there was over 100 riders at one point. The pace was faster than a Critical Mass ride so that was fun (~9mph). They encourage folks to bring speakers so there was plenty of music to keep the "vibes high", I even saw a few folks I recognized from CM.

I'm definitely going to have to catch another one of these, and may even try to join one of their other rides.

Would recommend.

From their insta:

This Thursday catch us for another night ride that will end at @bartwentytwochicago !

Meet up: 7:30pm McCormick Place (2301 S King Drive) Ride out: 8pm End: @bartwentytwochicago (2244 S Michigan Ave)