My back wheel finally died.

[Flag flaps gently at half mast, The Last Post plays solemly]

Well, to be truthful, I had to put it down as it was suffering too much.

The hub – a Hope XC – Locked solid leaving me riding fixed for the last 3 miles on Saturday. Diagnosis – A second snapped axle mashed the pawls into the rachet, writing it off.

The other damage, on inspection, was
Stripped disc bolt thread
6 spokes too bent from rock strikes or otherwise mangled to be even kept as spares
Rim, Mavic 717, 2-3 big dings and a flat spot from when the trye popped off on the road and locked the wheel, dragging the bare rim down the tarmac

To be fair, I'm very hard on back wheels (Lots of me + Lots of power x Not much skill = Mashed wheels) and this must be the longest surviving I've ever had. It's done thousands and thousands of miles, lots of Stanes, lots of Wales, a fair bit of Peaks, Cotswolds and the like, it's been on 3-4 bikes, used a SS wheel and generally abused, and I've been expecting this for a yar or more now, and I've been bodging and nursing it along. Poor thing.

And of course, last week I sold my spare pair of wheels. D'Oh!

Still (IHN take note!) being the pikey I am, I had a £5 wheel I'd bought from the local recycling centre (OK, council tip…), complete with disc and cassette. So on Sunday, out of the ashes of a mostly knackered wheel with a very knackered hub, and a wheel so shonky someone else threw it away, I built another wheel for virtually £nothing. And it's sorta straightish. And the bearings seem OK. And that cassette took a new chain without slippage.
Ahh the ups and downs of MTBing (pun intended)