At 48,500km I put a new Bridgestone B45 on the rear and thought I'd check the condition of the cush drive. These are a set of rubber wedges mounted in the hub which absorb the shock of acceleration and deceleration, protecting the drive train.

	I placed the wheel on top of a car wheel to protect the brake disc.
	Undo the safety tab, which locks the split ring in place.
	I found that a pair of needle-nose pliers enabled me to draw the ends of the spring together. The spring is recessed into the surrounding hub, locking the cover plate securely into place.
	The pliers and a thin screwdriver lifted the spring out. It's not under a lot of tension, so it won't decapitate you!
	The rubber wedges were clean, with no evidence of water entering the drive. At this stage you could remove, clean and rub some grease lightly over the drive blocks. Mine were fine so I gave everything a bit of a wipe and reassembled the drive. You have to push the cover plate back on firmly to allow a gap for the spring to set back into the flange.