Help with my spokes

rusty52

I am fairly new to the road scene and have developed the oddest of problems. When i first got my bike spokes would often come lose, took the wheel back and was fixed. A year went by without problem and then last summer started to rear its ugly head again. Took it to my local bike shop, to properly true and replace a spoke that had broken off when it came lose (rounding a corner at XXmph). Now it is back again, completely random - never been the same spoke twice.

Can anyone help me?

rake

aluminium or brass nipples? try thread lock.

rusty52

I am going to guess at aluminium. Thread lock as in the loctite stuff available from all good.........Halfords?

Also strange in that it only affects the rear wheel!

rake

loctite will hold them but be warned when it dries they will be a devil to adjust. i use a spoke wrench one side and a screwdriver the other to save twisting the edges off. there is also purpose made stuff for the job but its seems expensive. the rear wheel dish is imbalanced compared to the front and there are drive spokes in the back wheel. have you noticed which side the loose spokes go to. i bet they are all the same side.

dennisn

What kind / brand of wheels are we talking here??? How many spokes? What type of lacing???

plankton_brain

I am in similar position.New bike and new to road bikes December. I have a rear spoke comes loose after a few miles. Tightend it up myself a few times then took it back to shop. Still happening, so taking it back to shop again. 70 mile round trip to shop so starting to piss me off a bit. Ill let you know what they say/do.

stigofthedump

When spokes are properly tightened the nipples should not need any locktite or glue. The problem comes when the spokes are unevenly tightened. You might be better to go to your LBS and find your local wheel wizard to give the wheels a good check. This might cost you, but will it be more than the petrol you are using now? or the inconvenience?

I suppose you might argue that the present wheel is not of merchantable quality and claim any costs from the original shop.

I have got great advice on wheels from Sheldon Brown and Wheelpro, both available on the interweb

rusty52

Think they have all been on the same side, wheels in question are just entry level ritchey's. Anyway, i have an update - after becoming even more incensed by the situation, i decided to go see the man at the LBS who is going to have a look and try to find out where the problem lies and think my final action will be for a completel rebuild of the wheel.

Thanks for all you help guys, give it a few weeks and i bet i will want to upgrade them after all this

rake

is its a boredman?

plankton_brain

I have an update on mine. Took wheel back to Evans and they have had another go at it. This time they have put Spoke Freeze on the nipples.

Done 30mins on the rollers and its still true. Probably need a couple more sessions to be sure.

Only downside is that I no longer get the progressive resistance on my rollers as the brake pads bind more and more.

rusty52

it is indeed a boardman. Gave it a good going over, first time i got it - didn't trust the "boyz" in Halfords as he looked like he had never seen a bike before in his life!

rake

good idea. i did so. im waiting to see what happens only done 70 miles last year on it. i have to say they look like straight gauge spokes which is diappointing. if i have trouble im going to put double butted sapim , brass nipples and locktite. thatl be solid.

Wappygixer

If you do use Loctite be sur eto use a low adhesive grade.Use the wrong stuff and your spokes will remian tight but also unmoveable.
Proper spoke freeze would be better if you can get your LBS to order you some.

bannedbiker

rusty52 wrote:

it is indeed a boardman. Gave it a good going over, first time i got it - didn't trust the "boyz" in Halfords as he looked like he had never seen a bike before in his life!

Its the same in all Halfords'. My mate and his mrs both bought some entry level mtb's there. Halfords insisted on building the bikes for them. They used them for one ride and thought they didn't feel quite right so asked me to give them a once over. Between the two bikes I found 3 tyres not seated properly, 3 v-brakes not set up anywhere near properly, 1 crank arm with about 1/2" of play, 1 cross-threaded pedal in the loose crank, 1 loose bolt in the handle bar stem, 2 rear mechs with the both limits set too high (so no high gear and chain falling off bottom gear into the spokes).
I sorted everything apart from the crank/pedal and told my mate to take it back to get the crank/pedal replaced. When Halfords were done with it they told him they did a free service at the same time, as far as i can tell this "servce" consisted of spraying the frame with GT85 to make it shiney...

ballspondroad

Loctite 222 threadlock adhesive is what you want if you go the sticky route. Have a look at the rim. It's possible you've knocked it out of true and so loosened a spoke. If the wheel isn't retrued properly then other spokes can start to go.