Remember when you had to guess the right spoke length?

I was at a big bike swap in Portland maybe ten years back, trying to build a wheel for a weird old hub. I spent an hour with a spoke calculator and a ruler, still got it wrong. Then a guy at the Park Tool booth showed me their new digital gauge, the TM-1. He said, 'Just measure one old spoke, it does the math for you.' I bought one that day for about $80. It cut my wheel building time in half and saved so many wasted spokes. Now I see them in every shop. Anyone else have a tool that seemed like a luxury but became a must have?

3 comments

3 Comments

maxl9313d agoTop Commenter

My first one died in a coffee spill.

ryanc7113d ago

Was it a full cup or just a splash?

lewis.gray13d ago

Coffee spills are the worst kind of tech disaster. My laptop still has a sticky key from my own clumsy moment. Guess we're all just one cup away from tragedy.