The Klein is out of commission

So I built up my blue Klein Aura XV myself. Turns out, that may have not been the greatest plan on a couple of counts. I popped in an outboard bearing bottom bracket and crank I got on the cheap used, but did not face the bottom bracket shell. Basically the procedure cleans the paint off and makes sure the part of the frame that interfaces with the bottom bracket bearing cups is perfectly flat, preventing sloppy wobble when you pedal. The wobble can apparently cause nasty noises and destruction to occur at the bottom bracket. Two thousand of my miles on the crank and bottom bracket caused an intermittent creak to become a royal scream. I walked into the shop today to talk about a fresh problem to have the mechanic show me the crank stop at exactly the same place, going only once around on its own. That's friction, folks, and that's bad. Really bad.

Tomorrow, I pick up the bike with a new (to me) Ultegra crankset and bearing cups. That should free up one problem but it leaves me with another: a broken rim. One of the spokes on my rear wheel is pulling through the rim. I'm actually really lucky it didn't give on a ride because my frame probably would have been completely hosed. It's almost indistinguishable but once you see it, you notice the cracks in the metal. After having the front wheel trued a couple of weeks ago, we decided to cash in the warranty toward an entire replacement set. We already knew the front wheel wasn't long for this world (after a certain rolling under the car tire incident) so it just made sense. Someday, I'll get the fancy upgrade wheels but I'm sticking with the basics for now.

I'm just counting the hours until I get to run screaming from the school building and ride (almost) whenever I'd like. It's coming soon...