Yes, at least it happened here and not in Europe. Jerry's bike has a cracked rim! Right there opposite the valve stem, which means it's the seam. I suspected that much when I examined it and saw how clean the break was.

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This was discovered after riding it all day and hearing an annoying click, click, click when he was braking.

OK, no big deal, you might think, except these are 20" wheels on a Bike Friday and are not easy to find. And believe me, he tried. The closest he got was a bike shop in downtown Baltimore that could have a replacement shipped down from Philadelphia tomorrow (Wednesday) and a rebuilt wheel ready by Thursday. Well, by Thursday, we are supposed to be many miles away, and Jerry is only going one-way (returning home by train on Monday the 22nd).

He also considered just going home and getting it fixed and returning, all by train. Or taking the train directly to Philly and getting it fixed, after which he could rejoin us. And we considered trying to ride it as far as Perryville, MD and then taking MARC back to DC. We went through all sorts of permutations.

But, in the final analysis, he decided to take an Uber to Baltimore's Penn Station and head back to DC via MARC (which he can do anytime with a folding bike).

So, Happy and I are sad to see him go but understand. This is a shakedown after all, so as the title says, better here than in Europe. As of this writing, he's ordered two new wheels. The existing ones are 21 years old!!!!