Suitcase manufacturers, as far as I can tell, don’t take into account the laws of physics when they design their products. It’s not that my suitcase is very old, or that I do as much travelling as some people, but already the wheels have worn down to uselessness so that you have to drag the wretched thing every step of the way, cursing the manufacturer and thinking that the Sumerians could have done a better job.
The angle of wheel wear also suggests a more serious design flaw.
To the workshop! Underneath the little black hubcaps. the wheels are held onto the castors with rivets. I hate rivets.
Thou Shalt Not Rivet.
Next, new wheels. Charlie picked up these not-quite-roller-skates at the local dodgy car boot sale.
“Street Gliders”, you say? I’ll take two!
They have standard 78mm skate wheels, which are slightly too big for the castors. No problem:
Muahaahaahaa!
There, fixed!
One down, one to go.
Still stable when it’s upright. Good.
As for why I went to all this effort to use these particular wheels: I could tell you that it’s because now my suitcase takes standard wheels that I could buy in any skate shop in any city, which is clearly an improvement, but the eagle eyed amongst you will have figured out that this is not the real reason.
