Well, here is another update on the wheel situation. To be honest, the day after I picked up the huffy wheel from the bike shop, it was already out of true. I just got tired of fixing it, so I said screw it and decided to get as many miles out of this wheel as I can (again). Well, that turned out to be not even 50 miles and its back to acting up severely again. Was driving the bike to work today and felt that old familiar drag on the back wheel. Figured it was the tire rubbing the frame. I stopped and adjusted it, making sure the tire did not hit the frame. Tightened my axle nuts down with the ratchet wrench I now carry on the bike, put my tools away and started the engine back up. Twisted the throttle......still feeling the drag. Got to work and checked the back wheel, still not hitting the frame. Came home from work, and the bike started to accelerate very choppily and I could hear a squealing noise, not sure if its the bearings or what, haven't pulled it apart to look yet. So I decided that I'm done with this pos huffy wheel and the Howard adapter (to clarify, the Howard adapter has been great, just can't use it on any other wheel). I have a wheelmaster wheel that needed a bit of trueing, due to my having loosened a few of the spokes to see if I could squeeze the Howard in there. So I decided to try to teach myself how to true, practicing on the wheelmaster wheel with cash in my pocket in case I couldn't do it right and needed to take it to a bike shop tomorrow. I threw the wheelmaster wheel in a spare frame and used a pair of needle-nose vice grips as a feeler. Wouldn't you know, I figured it out and did a pretty fantastic job for my first time. I also took care to make sure the spokes are properly tensioned, something I think the bike shop failed to do anyway. Needless to say they'll not be getting any more of my money now that I know how to do this. I will have just enough money left out of my paycheck to order a Sportsman adapter with a 44t sprocket. For $95 shipped, its actually the best deal I could find. So this is the new plan, to install the Wheelmaster wheel with the sportsman adapter. Tomorrow I'll be inspecting the huffy hub to see what the damage is. I'm hoping the bearings are good for at least a few more rides, because I only have one spare set and I do not want to risk them in the huffy wheel as I'll need them for the wheelmaster wheel once the sportsman adapter gets here. If the bearings are ok, I'll be trueing the huffy wheel, just so I can use it till the sportsman adapter gets here. Hopefully I will only have to drive with this pos wheel one more time. I'm off tomorrow, and the wife can take me back and forth to work over the weekend. If I can't fix the huffy wheel at all, I'll be taking the bus to work on Monday. I have off again Tuesday and Wednesday, and I'm sure the sportsman adapter will be here by then. So long story short, tired of wasting time and money on the huffy wheel, learned how to true, gonna switch to the sportsman adapter. Hopefully this setup will be much more reliable than the pos huffy wheel. Definitely feeling a sense of accomplishment at learning how to true, though. Now there is nothing I haven't done to my bike myself.
