Failures

The back wheel of my bicycle has something called a “hub,” which is the center of the wheel that connects the spokes to the bike frame. The hub houses the ball bearings and also the freewheel, which allows the petals and chain to rest while the wheel is spinning. Some time ago all of the grease leaked out of the hub and as a result the ball bearings wore a groove in what is called the cone. The cone keeps the ball bearings in place. Although the grease was replaced and the ball bearings set right, the groove in the cone made it impossible to tighten everything together properly. If tightene,d so that the bearings were snug, they would get caught up on the groove in the cone. As a result of the loose fit, one of the bearings has fallen out of the hub altogether, and now when the wheel spins the others clank and rattle around. In addition, the back wheel is extremely wobbly.

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One should not rely on the chocolate dip on a Dairy Queen ice cream cone to keep the ice cream from dripping down the sides of the cone.

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