8°C, drier but still chilly.

Film: Hereafter; Clint Eastwood directed with Matt Damon in the lead role.
It’s a Hollywood story which runs along nicely. The lead character has psychic powers which are “a curse not a gift”. That theme is the most interesting part. Lie most American films, there is love interest. This time, there are three character’s threads which eventually and inevitable come together in unlikely circumstances. The ending is, however, a cheap throwaway. It was as if they ran out of money and had to finish it in a hurry.

Bike repairs saga: Burton-upon-Trent has a decent bike shop. I took the wheel there with the STX hub from my spares box. For the interim, I decided to buy a pair of cheap R500 wheels. They only have 20 spokes front (& 24 rear)- I hope they can take my weight (14¾ stones).

Fitted: A tight fit on the tyres but otherwise not much to do. The wheel rim is true but spokes were not evenly tensioned. I like to adjust spokes by sound- I pluck the spokes and listen, some sounded flat, others sharp. To get the wheel well tuned, you need to make adjustments to spokes so they all make the same note, and the wheel is true. Only when you have both, can you be sure of a wheel that is true and will stay so.

It does look odd with only 20 spokes on the front and straight-lace pattern. That makes the rim more sensitive to spoke adjustments (I assume the spoke nipple thread is the same pitch though).