Breaking Spokes Regularly

blu3cat

Hi,

I have gone through 4 spokes on my rear non-drive side Shimano RS10s in the past 18 months.

Obviously I am unhappy about this, but I am thinking if the stand I use may have something to do with this.

I use one of these



and was wondering if when the bike leans in the stand it is putting extra strain on my spokes.

Anyone else had a similar experience?

Gav2000

My Dahon Cadenza broke spokes in the rear wheel at quite a rate. It was the drive side of the wheel so involved me taking the cassette off for eavery replacement. In the end I got tired of doing it spoke by spoke and got the wheel rebuilt with new spokes. There was obviously a weakness with the original spokes as I've had no problems in 18 months since the rebuild.

I wouldn't have thought your stand would affect the spokes (the spokes need to be strong enougth to handle your weight over many many bumps so standing in a stand shouldn't matter) but you could have a spoke weakness problem.

Gav.

prawny

I hear that if one spoke goes it strains the others. If you've had 4 go now the forces will be all over the place, I reckon a either a full rebuild or if you're handy with a spoke key slacken all the spokes right off and start again. Jamey in the commuting section is a bit of an expert on these things.

Legshaver

Last year one of my cycling buddies bought a Specialised Carbon Roubaix the same day, same dealer as I, when I bought my Cannondale Carbon Synapse. Both bikes were equipped with RS10s and because we ride together most days, both bikes have now done 3500 miles.

He had a broken rear drive side spoke after about 2000 miles and had to wait 7 weeks before the dealer could get a replacement. Fortunately, I had a spare set of wheels which he borrowed during that time.

After getting the repaired wheel back another rear spoke broke, and again the dealer could not get a replacement. Apparently, Shimano do not send large batches of spokes to the UK. I don't know why, It could be that they don't get many breakages on their wheels, but I cannot quite understand the logic when so many of their wheels are out there. After some more weeks waiting my mate got more demanding about getting the wheel fixed and the dealer phoned Specialised who supplied the bike. Without any prompting from my mate, Specialised sent the dealer a new pair of front and rear wheels and an apology about the poor service that he had had from Shimano.

To say that my mate was delighted with his new wheels is an understatement, and thanked both the dealer and Specialised for his RS80s - yes, you read it correctly - Specialised did not have any RS10s in the UK. I believe that neither the dealer nor the supplier wanted to send out a bad impression and it's very clear that they value their clients. Kudos to them.

My RS10s are still perfect but I decided to buy a pair of Ultegra wheels, keeping the RS10s as spares. If Shimano spokes are that difficult to get then at least we have another spare set of wheels.

My Ultegra, and my mates RS80s, are excellent BTW. I hope it stays that way!

Monty Dog

Regular spoke breakages are symptomatic of a poorly-built wheel - I certainly wouldn't consider your stand as being suspect - static loading is minimal in comparison to the load from riding. If one spoke goes, it can put excessive stresses on the others - if this isn't addressed by even retensioning then you can just end up chasing your tail - suggest that the wheel is slackened and retensioned evenly - as its a Shimano hub, I would doubt it's down to things like poorly finished spoke holes creating stress-raisers in the spokes.

Nuggs

You are The Jan AICMFP.

bice

I broke a spoke when just making a tiny truing adjustment on my rear wheel as it was not radially true (meaning round enough).

I loosened all the spokes, put in a new old spoke from a spare 700mm wheel (my one was 28ins) and started again.

I reckon if you break a spoke it probably makes sense to loosen everything and start again with the replacement, unless everything is perfectly true (surely unlikely?)

racingcondor

Wheel building is a bit of an art (enough that I wouldn't bother buying a spoke key). As Monty says get the wheel rebuilt in a good shop and you shouldn't have any problems.

karlmoreton

Was an article on roadcycling uk about this problem occuring at around 2000 miles on RS10,20 and and Dura Ace 24mm CL, although the latter have been rectified I am led to believe. All are hand tensioned at shimano factory so its a shame coz they are a nice budget wheel.

My RS20's did the same, got quoted £3.50 per spoke (not too bad) but £1.50 per alloy nipple :twisted: . along with ridiculous wait times.

It is the nipple design that is the problem, they are square shouldered so don't align with the spoke so the spoke has to bend at the nipple, usually at the threaded portion which further act as stress raisers.

Ordered some Sapim Polyax nippples @ £3.50 for a bag of 20 and rebuilt the wheel, not had a problem since.

blu3cat

I am blessd with enough shops that hav th correct spokes in and just in case have 2 of my own sitting at home. Oh wll off to buy a decet spoke key and have a go at undoing - re-tensionign the spokes.

What's the worse thing that can happen? Another broken spoke.

Tx for the advice.

rake

rip it down ond lace new spokes.

bice

blu3cat wrote:

I am blessd with enough shops that hav th correct spokes in and just in case have 2 of my own sitting at home. Oh wll off to buy a decet spoke key and have a go at undoing - re-tensionign the spokes.

What's the worse thing that can happen? Another broken spoke.

Tx for the advice.

This isn't a good idea. Don't just dive in with wheels. Read Sheldon or get Roger Musson's ebook. Making wheels isn't an art: it's a procedure, but if you don't know what you are doing you could bend the rim which makes things more difficult. Also you need to get an idea on how to dish a wheel (this is rear wheel, right?)

You can easily do this in the frame of your bike, but you must follow advice and do everything slowly.

If you are really pessed off, take it some competent mechanic and tell him: you want everything loosened off and start again - if he demurs you have got the wrong guy.

bice

Sorry, I assumed this was a 32 or 36 spoke wheel.

I now see that a Shimano RS10 is a 20 spoke, factory made job with, I guess, relatively thick spokes.

I have cheap Mavic Aksium and Bontrager wheels on my bikes, which are similar wheels. I have assumed that when they go wrong, they are for the bin.

The principle of starting from scratch is correct, but I don't know how successful you are likely to be with this type of wheel.

chriskempton

New RS10s are not too much more than a wheel rebuild by a professional which would still leave you with well used wheels. I'd just get a new one or alternatively try a different wheelset with a better reliability/fixability record. You could sell the spare front one and it's not too much more.

blu3cat

chriskempton wrote:

New RS10s are not too much more than a wheel rebuild by a professional which would still leave you with well used wheels. I'd just get a new one or alternatively try a different wheelset with a better reliability/fixability record. You could sell the spare front one and it's not too much more.

It's a little annoying about the cost of a rebuild, and I am thinking new wheels and use the RS10s as a winter pair. Just got to justify the cost of some nice light wheels on a bike I commute on.

All the completely different shops I have talked to have said the RS10s are fine, even for a 90kg lard a*se like me.

vorsprung

RS10 wheels have a good reputation for being a strong, reliable wheel for that sort of thing at that price point

That said, a low spoke count wheel that costs 100 quid a pair cannot be the strongest thing around. What do you weight and what sort of roads do you ride? Maybe it is just normal wear and tear

blu3cat

vorsprung wrote:

RS10 wheels have a good reputation for being a strong, reliable wheel for that sort of thing at that price point

That said, a low spoke count wheel that costs 100 quid a pair cannot be the strongest thing around. What do you weight and what sort of roads do you ride? Maybe it is just normal wear and tear

90KG and standard London roads. I think I may have just been unlucky.

StanwaySteve62

19stone to 17stone on RS10's (fingers crossed)

vorsprung

blu3cat wrote:

vorsprung wrote:

RS10 wheels have a good reputation for being a strong, reliable wheel for that sort of thing at that price point

That said, a low spoke count wheel that costs 100 quid a pair cannot be the strongest thing around. What do you weight and what sort of roads do you ride? Maybe it is just normal wear and tear

90KG and standard London roads. I think I may have just been unlucky.

A quick STFW suggests that 90kg is right on the limit for the RS10

Most low spoke count wheels don't like riders over 85kg

StanwaySteve62

vorsprung wrote:

blu3cat wrote:

vorsprung wrote:

RS10 wheels have a good reputation for being a strong, reliable wheel for that sort of thing at that price point

That said, a low spoke count wheel that costs 100 quid a pair cannot be the strongest thing around. What do you weight and what sort of roads do you ride? Maybe it is just normal wear and tear

90KG and standard London roads. I think I may have just been unlucky.

A quick STFW suggests that 90kg is right on the limit for the RS10

Most low spoke count wheels don't like riders over 85kg

Be great if my scales have been lying to me