27 months

I made my usual Friday stop at the bike shop in Limbe to pick up a wheelset I’d stashed in the back weeks before. They are nothing special, but that they are alloy (not steel) and of the size I needed (700c) are what matters. They also sport Italian Grimeca hubs, which is a step up from the Chinese-made stuff we usually get. I asked Henry, the chief technician, if he had a tool to remove the freewheel with. At a shop in the States, this process usually involves choosing from among a half dozen special tools designed to handle the wide variety of extant styles. The 5-speed freewheel looked ancient and welded onto the hub. Thinking back to tools I’ve broken removing old components like these, I watched as Henry calmly tackled the job using only a screwdriver and a massive adjustable wrench.

With a minimum of effort, it seemed, he first disassembled the freewheel mechanism and then persuaded the freewheel body to come off the hub. Next, he carefully rebuilt the freewheel with fresh grease and set it aside. As with all things in Cameroon, nothing is left to waste. After a trip to the beach, the wheels came back to Buea with me.