Spoke

fastercyclist

Just checked my back wheel and one spoke is loose. Advice?

Planet X bike (sl carbon/ultegra), 7 weeks old!!!

I'm 73 KG so no fat bastard. Really confused about how this happened. It's still on the wheel edge but does not connect to the centre any more. Can't "shove" it back in, seems to be that the metal bit had a clean cut with it's connector to the hub.

I've only been cycling 2 1/2 months so I only average 17/18mph around Devon so I don't think it's outright abuse that caused this?

Is there a real danger of deforming the wheel if I carry on riding?

"normal" wheels so loads of spokes on it. Just checked my order form - it's a Modal B wheelset.

geoff_ss

Obviously it needs tightening but is the wheel still true? If so, that spoke wasn't doing any work before it came loose so the wheel needs a good going over.

If the bike's only 7 weeks old then I would assume the shop should offer a free service to check the bike over after it's settled down with a bit of use. Rather like a new car's 500 mile service.

Geoff

amaferanga

if its not connected at the centre anymore (the hub) then presumably the spoke is broken and needs replaced?

Spokes break from time to time, just a fact of life.

fastercyclist

Geoff_SS wrote:

Obviously it needs tightening but is the wheel still true? If so, that spoke wasn't doing any work before it came loose so the wheel needs a good going over.

If the bike's only 7 weeks old then I would assume the shop should offer a free service to check the bike over after it's settled down with a bit of use. Rather like a new car's 500 mile service.

Geoff

Sorry I didn't mean it rattled about, I mean it isn't attached to the hub at all and it cant be placed back in because the metal connection is broken.

Jamey

Your spoke has broken at the elbow - which is the most common place for a spoke to break if it's been subjected to excessive stressing/destressing cycles.

This doesn't happen because one spoke was fitted incorrectly, it only happens because a spoke gradually worked loose due to the whole wheel having uneven spoke tension.

For several tens of miles before that spoke broke it was a lot looser than all of the others, which will have created even more uneven spoke tension in your wheel so now there will be other spokes that are also beginning to loosen themselves.

You should not ride the bike for any distance and you should get the entire wheel rebuilt and properly tensioned/trued.

Broken spokes are not a problem in themselves, they are almost always a symptom of a bigger problem - a wheel that has been poorly built.

amaferanga

For a single spoke breakage I'd be tempted just to replace it and get the wheel trued. If more spokes break soon then it's time for a complete rebuild.

Jamey

I disagree. On a brand new bike a single spoke breakage is pointing to a poor build of the wheel and needs looking at properly.

amaferanga

You're probably right, but I'd still replace the one spoke and see what happens before spending significantly more on a complete rebuild. If you build your own wheels then you can often pick up spokes pretty cheaply online, but my LBS charge 75p each for DB spokes so for a 32 hole rim spokes alone would come to £24!

Jamey

They don't need to buy new spokes to rebuild it. And to be honest they don't need to re-lace it either. It just wants slackening off completely and retensioning from scratch, I'd say.

75p for spokes from a bricks-and-mortar shop isn't too bad, depending on which ones they are.

oldnslowcp

Ring or e-mail Planet X, they'll ask you to return the wheel and they will sort it out and then refund your postage.

Gav2000

Those Planet X wheels have flat profile spokes, mine do anyway. I'm not sure where you'd get matching spokes from other than via Planet X.

I'd be interested to know how your resolve this as no spokes have broken in my wheels yet but I'd like to know where to get matching spokes from in case they do.

Gav.

fastercyclist

I emailed them and got a copy of a forwarded email (internal) instructing someone to tell me about returns proceedure. Just waiting for them now, bit annoying as the only other bike I've got is a giant (rincon) mountain bike. Looks like a week of hill repeats to keep up fitness...joy. :roll:

Just hoping they don't try to fob me off to a LBS to get it done there instead.

fastercyclist

Well here's an update, I emailed planet X on Thursday and they said they would inform me of returns procedure soon. Nothing by Monday so I just rang them now they've decided that spokes break as wear and tear on a 7 week old bike (funny how that never happened for many years on either of my previous mountain bikes ?!) and are sending me a spoke as a "good will" gesture.

Personally I'd of thought the good will gesture would of been taking back what appears to be a faulty product and fixing it rather then leaving me with the bill to get their wheel sorted. It's not even a third-party wheel, it's their own one they packaged with a bike which is really annoying me.

I'm not going to personally use Planet X again, simply because they provided me with something that broke in less then 2 months. If their products break as "wear and tear" so quickly then I don't want another item off of them.

Very disappointed. The cost of fixing my wheel was a lot less then I would of spent with them afterwards on equipment I've got my eyes on like some aerobars. Planet X's loss however.

amaferanga

To be fair, 7 weeks for some people could equate to over 2000 miles. Would you expect planet X to fix the spoke after you've done 2000 miles or maybe 3000 miles? It may have been down to a sub standard build or you might have bumped through a few too many pot holes (something folk that are new to light weight road bikes often do - not saying you did )

ride_whenever

Jamey wrote:

They don't need to buy new spokes to rebuild it. And to be honest they don't need to re-lace it either. It just wants slackening off completely and retensioning from scratch, I'd say.

75p for spokes from a bricks-and-mortar shop isn't too bad, depending on which ones they are.

exactly what to do

geoff_ss

amaferanga wrote:

To be fair, 7 weeks for some people could equate to over 2000 miles. Would you expect planet X to fix the spoke after you've done 2000 miles or maybe 3000 miles? It may have been down to a sub standard build or you might have bumped through a few too many pot holes (something folk that are new to light weight road bikes often do - not saying you did )

I would expect them to. Spokes shouldn't break in a wheel after even 2000 miles in a new well-built wheel. Pot holes are a fact of cycling life and can't always be dodged. Wheels should be able to cope in most circumstances.

I've never used anything other than standard components in a wheel so I'm unfamiliar with these so-called factory built wheels. Everything I've heard about them persuades me never to try a pair. They're OK if you're being followed by a service car and are looking for tiny advantages in a race but they seem to be of dubious use for normal riding.

Poor service IMO.

Geoff

fastercyclist

amaferanga wrote:

To be fair, 7 weeks for some people could equate to over 2000 miles. Would you expect planet X to fix the spoke after you've done 2000 miles or maybe 3000 miles? It may have been down to a sub standard build or you might have bumped through a few too many pot holes (something folk that are new to light weight road bikes often do - not saying you did )

I paid £1300 for a bike and in 7 weeks there's an issue with the wheel. Whilst the Planet X guys probably think they're being nice by sending me a spoke - I think they're failing to see the other side of the problem. A wheel with that is branded by them, was put together on a bike branded by them, sold directly by them to a customer and in 7 weeks it has a fault. I fail to understand how that can be construed as wear and tear - it should not be normal for a product to literally break in 7 weeks of use, by someone who has only been cycling about 2 1/2 months. I'm hardly Lance Armstrong. It's a carbon bike so I'm petrified of pot holes and as I like the bike itself I'm very careful around them.

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll just take the wheel along to a LBS with the spoke and ask them to repair it in front of me so I can see how to do it. For the record, I don't think they're bad people at Planet X - only that they're in a bit of a bubble about customer expectations on big purchases.

amaferanga

I suspect that if PX had a shop at the bottom of your street and you took the bike in they'd replace it cos it'd only take a minute, but expecting them to pay to have a wheel couriered back every time someone pops a spoke isn't a realistic expectation imo. If they did that then I suspect the prices would have to go up.

Gav2000

You should ask them for a few spokes to keep you going! I've never had just 1 spoke break, once a spoke goes I am now quite certain that more will start to go. It's not hard to replace a spoke but if it's on the cassette side of the rear wheel (which it always seem to be for me) it is a faff to take the cassette off to replace it. After the 5th spoke on a wheel last winter I had to resort to a full rebuild!

Gav.

cougie

Spokes break from time to time - fact of life. Easy job to slot a new one in and tension. No need to rebuild the whole wheel - I've never done that in 25 years of cycling - and my wheels are fine.

Bit silly to slag PX off for one spoke - you'll be off the bike a darn sight longer if you have to have the wheel taken back, repaired and delivered back.

PX are great value - but they aren't a local bike shop and as such won't offer the extras that a lbs does.

You pays your money and makes your choice.

cougie

Spokes break from time to time - fact of life. Easy job to slot a new one in and tension. No need to rebuild the whole wheel - I've never done that in 25 years of cycling - and my wheels are fine.

Bit silly to slag PX off for one spoke - you'll be off the bike a darn sight longer if you have to have the wheel taken back, repaired and delivered back.

PX are great value - but they aren't a local bike shop and as such won't offer the extras that a lbs does.

You pays your money and makes your choice.

fastercyclist

cougie wrote:

Spokes break from time to time - fact of life. Easy job to slot a new one in and tension. No need to rebuild the whole wheel - I've never done that in 25 years of cycling - and my wheels are fine.

Bit silly to slag PX off for one spoke - you'll be off the bike a darn sight longer if you have to have the wheel taken back, repaired and delivered back.

PX are great value - but they aren't a local bike shop and as such won't offer the extras that a lbs does.

You pays your money and makes your choice.

This is an old thread but...

Took it to the LBS. Charged me £18 for it so I'm not going back there again :shock: :?
Didn't want to start a fight over it as the owner is closely linked with the local bike club. Time it took LBS to do it didn't really compare much badly with posting times but I do see your point about PX. They were good about something else that broke later on so I don't feel so bad about them now. Just put it down to experience.

prawny

Really worth learning to do it your self, it's not hard. My rear wheel sheared a nipple a few months ago I was getting quotes of about £14-18. I went to evans they gave me some nips for free and I had it sorted within about half an hour.

Monty Dog

You pays yer money and takes your choice - the reason that you get a good value from P-X is the way they run their business, no middle man and rock-bottom prices - if you wanted 'premium service' you could have bought a bike from your LBS and I expect they would have replaced and retrued the wheel for free - you can't expect to have it both ways? Bikes aren't indestructable and do suffer from wear and tear - a spoke breakage isn't unexpected. Either learn to DIY or foster good relationships with you LBS through preventative maintenance.

andrewgturnbull

fastercyclist wrote:

cougie wrote:

Spokes break from time to time - fact of life. Easy job to slot a new one in and tension. No need to rebuild the whole wheel - I've never done that in 25 years of cycling - and my wheels are fine.

Bit silly to slag PX off for one spoke - you'll be off the bike a darn sight longer if you have to have the wheel taken back, repaired and delivered back.

PX are great value - but they aren't a local bike shop and as such won't offer the extras that a lbs does.

You pays your money and makes your choice.

This is an old thread but...

Took it to the LBS. Charged me £18 for it so I'm not going back there again :shock: :?
Didn't want to start a fight over it as the owner is closely linked with the local bike club. Time it took LBS to do it didn't really compare much badly with posting times but I do see your point about PX. They were good about something else that broke later on so I don't feel so bad about them now. Just put it down to experience.

Hi there.

£18 isn't outrageous if they rebuilt your wheel (rather than just tightening the one spoke). If the wheel is still sound in another 7 weeks then I would consider it money well spent and I'd definately be back there again.

Cheers, Andy

rake

no need to rebuild the wheel. thats a rip off £18. just bung in a new spoke.

andrewgturnbull

rake wrote:

no need to rebuild the wheel. thats a rip off £18. just bung in a new spoke.

Hi there.

If the spoke broke in the first few miles, then it might have been a dodgy spoke - hence bunging it an and tightening it up to the same tension as the next one along on the same side would probably do the trick.

As the spoke broke after several weeks then it's more likely that an unevenly built wheel caused the spoke to work loose.

Cheers, Andy

rake

possibly . but its could still just be bad luck after that timespoan. if a second one then goes look more closely.