Reynolds Alta Race Wheels

shockedsoshocked

Had these for a few months now, and they've been great. As usually happens eventually, I snapped a spoke today while climbing (although, considering the size of some of the potholes i've hit by accident i'm surprised they lasted this long).

Has anyone had any problems replacing spokes on these? I remember some old threads on the C+ forum saying some LBS had to get special tools to replace a spoke? Or will I need to buy specific spokes for the wheels? (I know Planet-X are selling these).

Any help appreciated.

nom de plum

I got some at the beginning of the summer. In 2 weeks I snapped 3 spokes...Rick Greens Cycles had no problem fixing them but I lost all confidences in them: PX refunded me without a question

shockedsoshocked

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully the LBS will be OK then.

3 spokes in 2 weeks is a bit excessive like, if i'd been only riding them a week or so i'd be a bit dissapointed. My old wheels would on average shed about a spoke a week though, so these ones are very tough by my standards it seems

nom de plum

"My old wheels would on average shed about a spoke a week though, so these ones are very tough by my standards it seems Laughing"

Hi SSS
spokes shouldn't go that often: I've got lots of wheelset (2 factory mavics, 2 handbuilt mavics on shimano, 1 zero; amoungst others)... non have ever shed a spoke...
p.s. I'm 11.5 stone

wildmoustache

the alta race is a great wheel let down by spoke issues.

i've relegated mine to a training wheel as it can't be trusted when racing. nice, fairly lighter, smooth, comfy and somewhat aero training wheel.

DouglasW

My Alta's were less than two weeks old when I snapped two spokes in two days. I was on holiday at the time and the shop I took the wheel to managed to replace the spokes each time but said they were a pain to work with. When I came home, I had all the spokes replaces with silver ones - apparently anodised spokes are more prone to breaking (by a ratio of 2:1 according to The Bicycleworks in Edinburgh).

richardjallen

DouglasW wrote:

apparently anodised spokes are more prone to breaking (by a ratio of 2:1 according to The Bicycleworks in Edinburgh).

I've heard this somewhere before.

My Alta Races have been fine so far and I've had then since about March.

notsoracy rich

When I came home, I had all the spokes replaces with silver ones - apparently anodised spokes are more prone to breaking (by a ratio of 2:1 according to The Bicycleworks in Edinburgh).

Thats interesting.

My Alta Races have been allright so far, although I did destress both wheels to the accompaniment of several pings before I used them.
However, if they started breaking spokes I was also thinking along the lines of replacing all spokes with ordinary SS ones, so please keep us updated as to whether this was successful or not.

Thanks,
Rich.

kieranb

hi, I've had these for a year now and a spoke has just gone in them, I brought them down to my LBS to get fixed and was told that they needed the original the nipple for the spoke as it was a specific nipple for the wheel , did anyone else have this problem?