Broke spokes...................

PhilipTom

Not sure if this is a problem or not but I'm getting a broken spoke on the rear wheel about every 500 miles. Usually coincides with me having ridden over some horrendous country roads.

The bike is a 10 year old Giant which, as far as I know, is on its original wheels. I've had it a couple of years but have only recently (last few months) been hammering it with mileage.

Is this a common problem or should I consider replacing the wheel? I'm a largish rider (85 kg, 6'2") and I wonder if the wheel is not up to my weight / size or is just worn out.

Any thoughts / guidance appreciated.

Thank you.

brownbosh

what wheels are they?

PhilipTom

Good point!

Rigida Ultimate Power: no other markings on rim or hub.

brownbosh

no knowledge of them im afraid. Have you considered having a rear wheel built on a 36 hub with an open pro rim? Indestructable when done by the right builder.

If the spokes keep snapping it sounds like crappy building and over tenshioning so use another builder if you do get one made up! You could get one done on 105 hub with dt double butted spokes for about £75 - £80. No more problems!

Alternatively i may soon be sellling one of my hand built training sets owing to upgrade. What area are you in?

John.T

Unlikely to be over tensioned spokes. More likely too loose ones. There is far more stress transfer then.

balthazar

The possible causes, from least to most likely, are:

- Poor quality spokes (bad batch, etc)

- Poorly matched wheel components (wrong spokes, rim etc)

- Damaged spokes (from a badly adjusted rear mech, perhaps)

- Poor quality wheelbuild. It is probably a machine tensioned and hand finished wheel, and probably never stress-relieved.

The solution is to have the wheel rebuilt with new spokes, and probably a new rim if it is distorted, worn, or corroded.

scherrit

Spokes die mostly from fatigue, so once a few have gone, I take that as notice that it's time to re-build the whole wheel, if the rim is still OK (not too worn on the braking surface) and still fairly straight once the spoke tension is off then the costs are new spokes and the labour for the build only.

If you are going to pay someone to build it for you, be sure to ask around for which shops have a good rep in your immediate area.
Good luck,
Scherrit.
www.thebikewhisperer.co.uk

PhilipTom

Thanks all for the advice.

Spoke replaced for now. The rim is "questionable" apparently: so many graduate bike mechanics nowadays!

Rebuild quoted at £35 which, given I could get a new Fulcrum wheelset from the big W for £107, seems expensive.

Hmmm......will ponder until next spoke breaks and then curse own inaction! Or order new wheelset or find decent LBShop with trusted rep: not easy nowadays but will consult with LBClub, which sometimes helps................

Anyway, new bike due in 4 weeks, so at least I'll have another option..................

thexvw

I would say its worn out and i wouldn't bother having it rebuilt, just not worth it when you can pick a set of tiagras for around £60.

I went through the same sort of problem with a set of alex rims earlier this year. I picked up a set of mavic cx22 rims, 105 hubs with dt swiss spokes for £100 from my LBS. So much better than the old rims.

PhilipTom

THEXVW,

They sound like good wheels (no idea really, just going on the brand combination) for a good price. Who is your LBS? Mine only has super cheap no-brand items and I'm not sure I'd trust them to build a new wheel for me.

Any other thoughts on rim / hub / spoke combos for about that budget or is the mavic / 105 / dt swiss as good as it gets?

Thanks.

balthazar

I build wheels rarely, for myself and friends. Mavic Open Pro is the only rim I've used in years, since their delightfully simple and unprepossessing MA2 was discontinued. I'd still prefer MA2 but wasn't thoughtful enough to buy in bulk when supplies were running out. If you can find any NOS then it is arguably a better rim, and probably much cheaper.

I don't think that spoke manufacturer matters much, but they should be double butted (swaged - thinner in the middle) stainless steel: thicknesses of 2.0/1.8/2.0mm respectively, are ideal.

Hubs depend on the make of your gears - in your case, Shimano. The fanciest you can afford, generally, though 105 is probably more than good enough quality.

Altogether new wheels from these components needn't be expensive: the previous respondent is about right. However, it is the builder who determines how good a wheel will be, and without prior knowledge this is difficult to assess. Doubt about the wheelbuilders available to me, is what initially drove me to build my own.

Nick6891

i would probably consider getting a new good quality wheel

thexvw

PhilipTom wrote:

THEXVW,

They sound like good wheels (no idea really, just going on the brand combination) for a good price. Who is your LBS? Mine only has super cheap no-brand items and I'm not sure I'd trust them to build a new wheel for me.

Any other thoughts on rim / hub / spoke combos for about that budget or is the mavic / 105 / dt swiss as good as it gets?

Thanks.

Ribble stock these :-

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/productde ... 5000000000

and a few other cheaper\more expensive combinations

John.T

My 10 year old Open pro on Ultegra have now done about 30000 miles and have been rebuilt twice now as the rims wore out. I am still using the same spokes and have not (touch wood) broken one yet. The secret is to build tight wheels and stress relieve them properly. As I said earlier the biggest spoke killer is having them too slack. It also makes for a soggy and uninspiring ride.

PhilipTom

I wish I knew how to stress relieve a wheel but unfortunately...............

The Ribble wheel deal looks good so that's an excellent solution.

However, the staff at Halfords have managed to throw me into another loop by asking whether I have a freewheel or cassette on the wheel. I have sorted out what this means (thank you Google) and it looks (although I will get it checked) like a cassette but I wondered whether Shimano ever made a road bike freewheel at the end of the '90's (when the bike was built) and whether Halfords are just deliberately trying to confuse me.

Oh, and Halfords do not rebuild wheels, apparently. Not that I'd ask them to but maybe they know how far their expertise stretches.

balthazar

PhilipTom wrote:

I wish I knew how to stress relieve a wheel but unfortunately...............

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html#seating

It's not difficult. I'd stress-relieve a new wheel because it is an unknown quantity. It's possible that the wheel may untrue a little during the procedure though, so you may not want to risk it. Good luck with the new wheels - I think you made a good practical choice.

John.T

Read Sheldon's article here.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html
Bookmark his home page. You will find answers to most of your questions here and also some you have not even thought of yet.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/
Also bookmark Park Tool's site.
http://www.parktool.com/
If you can not find what you want on these it probably is not on a bike.

cycologist

[quote="PhilipTom"

Oh, and Halfords do not rebuild wheels, apparently. Not that I'd ask them to but maybe they know how far their expertise stretches.[/quote]

About as much as a 3 foot length of steel hawser !

Anonymous

Those Mavic Open Pro rims aint half good!, I got front and back all built up for me too for 25 quid, they took my Shimano RS10 wheels (I think they where RS10) in part ex and I am sure if I was still using the RS10 I would have had more broken spokes and out of true wheel.

Done about 1000 miles I rekon on these Open Pro wheels and they aint out of true much at all yet and no broken spokesm they have been given some hammer too, off curbs, pot holes at 20mph, sounds like I am hammering them on purpose but in manchester the roads in some parts are hell.

PhilipTom

Just to say that another spoke went today and so new wheels are now in place. No Mavics available at short notice (apparently there's been some problem with them and dealers are, allegedly, returning then) so ended up with Fulcrum 7's. Look v. smart and should do the job. Just over the ton for the pair so no complaints.