Nuts - 20 miles

I happen to reach down and wiggle my rear wheel side to side this morning and noticed a few millimeters of lateral play. Damn; loose cones I thought. Actually, there are no “cones” in my Mavic Cosmos wheel set. Instead, theses pieces are called “fork support nuts”. Even when discussing the rear hubs. This makes sense though; since these nuts only hold sealed cartridge bearings in place and do not affect rolling resistance. They serve as more of a drop-out mating surface or... FORK SUPPORT. Traditionally, cones were used to hold ball bearings in place within a hub by sandwiching them between the inside hub flanges and the cones themselves. Each cone would be tightened inboard on either side of the axle until a firm, yet friction-free relationship is attained. Once this is established, thin serrated jamb-nuts are used to lock them in place. At any rate, I removed the cassette from the hub and noticed that my fork support nut on the drive side had loosened and migrated about 8 mm outboard. Yikes! I cleaned the hub, dropped some lube in to the visible cartridge bearing and then snugged it up using 13mm & 17mm cone wrenches. No more wiggle; only smooth operation. I snapped a few photos during the process, just for shits & giggles. More for giggles I suppose.

At 1:00 I headed out for a road ride. Threatening clouds made me run back inside and grab my arm warmers and rear fender. Rear fenders; great equipment for rainy rides. They help to mitigate the dreaded wet ass. Riding in the rain is one thing, but riding with a constant stream of chilly road muck spraying up your butt and back is another thing entirely. I was glad I used the fender today because two miles from home, the black sky cracked loose and dropped big fat rain down on me. Luckily I had nearly completed my 20 mile loop and only spent 10 or 15 minutes getting drenched. Tip o' the day: Ziploc bags are great protection for your phone on rainy rides.