Here is the story from my main blog only with photos and an explanation of the probable cause at the bottom

Sunday we headed down to the "juice bar cafe" for breakfast and with the hub gears playing up we were unsure what we would do, maybe a bus to Marrakesh. Being Sunday we were unsure if any bike shop would be open and even if it was could the hub gears be fixed. As it happened there was a bike shop just around the corner from the cafe and a young "mechanic" set to work pulling apart the hub. Two of the pawls were broken and the retaining spring was chewed up.
[this shows the 2 broken pawls (each in 2 pieces) and part (about 20mm) of the retaining spring]
I suggested we leave all the pawls out of this gear reducing the hub to 2 gears instead of 3. He would have nothing of it and pulled apart a few old rear clusters looking for replacement pawls. Next he dismantled a new Chinese cluster and amazingly the pawls were a close match.
[this was the new Chinese cluster the pawls came from… amazingly they fitted]
[ here are the 2 original pawls and the 2 replacements. Also this shows the drive where the 4 pawls sit on the outside and pivot to catch the ratchet gear surrounding it when 3rd gear is engaged. In the lower gears the pawls allow the ratchet gear to move faster than the drive with the pawls folding or pivoting in and allowing the ratchet to pass over them.]

He wired these in place and everything looked good. I paid the Dh80 requested and gave a Dh20 tip.


We decided to head off aiming for the other side of Agadir about 50km. The head wind was strong, maybe 60+km/hour and wiping up sand. Also it was not long before the gears started squeaking again. I spotted a bike shop on and went and asked if they could have a look. He was a 50year old experienced "mechanic" and he pulled the hub apart and I found two more bits of the retaining spring. Also the wire the earlier "mechanic" had used had broken. I again suggested leaving out all the pawls for this, the highest gear but he was determined and looked for a spring to retain the pawls. Finally he undid a motorbike carburettor and took our the spring and bent the spring steel into a retainer. When it was all finished we were cajoled into joining him and the other mechanic and sharing their large couscous and vegetables on makeshift seats in the workshop. I paid Dh200 and felt reasonably confident this was going to work. We pressed on north into the northerly gale and the gears now seemed to work okay.

Probable cause:
I am now pretty confident that the whole rear hub (and possibly even the bent hanger) can be traced to the replacement of the spokes by the "professional" in Tafraoute on Tuesday (23rd April)
In order to remove or replace the spokes the drag brake must be removed and in order to do this the hub has been pulled apart. When reassembling it the "mechanic" has not taken sufficient care inserting the 3rd gear drive into the ratchet gear and has dislodged the retaining spring and possibly the pawls. Over the next few days the pawls have been broken and the the spring chewed up and so the problem.

Also in relation to the hanger he insisted on removing the wheel with the bike right way up so when I left it the bike was gently resting on the hanger and derailleur, who knows what happened from there.

Both these problems first appeared over the next day or two.