Too heavy for wheels

bdave262000

I picked up my new Marin commuter bike just over three months ago. Within this time the spokes on my back wheel have popped three times, I brought the bike back to the shop on each occasion to be repaired. The most recent incident was last Friday when I was hitting just shy of 30mph down Putney Hill when I heard the famiiliar ping, managed to slow down and pull over after some major wobbling / skidding to find three spokes had popped on the rear wheel.

I took it back to Cycle Surgery yesterday and this time it is going to be sent back to Marin. The rims are WTB (32 hole) 29 inch with 15 gauge black stainless steel. I'm not the smallest person weighing 16.10st (down from 20st 18months ago and trying to lose more) but I would have thought the wheels would have been more robust than this. I don't want to be in a position where they replace the wheel set like for like and the same thing happens.

Has anyone else had similar issues with spokes popping regularly?

nation

29 inch as in MTB 29er wheels?

32 spoke MTB wheels should definitely be able to carry a 16 stone person.

fossyant

It's usually because the wheels are crap and machine built. The spoke tension is often wrong, leading to fails.

bdave262000

nation wrote:

29 inch as in MTB 29er wheels?

32 spoke MTB wheels should definitely be able to carry a 16 stone person.

yes 29er wheels, I got the shop to check the spoke tension after the second time it happened.

The Rookie

Spokes snapping, nipples snapping or the thread being stripped out the nipple?

Either way they should cope just fine on a road commute, sounds like a faulty wheel (over tensioned perhaps) or batch of parts.

Simon

notsoblue

It could be that they didn't tension it right when they repaired it the first time.

Don't let them tell you that it was your weight that did it!

bdave262000

The Beginner wrote:

Spokes snapping, nipples snapping or the thread being stripped out the nipple?

Either way they should cope just fine on a road commute, sounds like a faulty wheel (over tensioned perhaps) or batch of parts.

Simon

Threads being stripped out of the nipple on all occasions.

ddraver

I ve never had that happen - I'm a big lad too and ride off road of drops and such and my wheels are fine - There does come a point with wheels where by if spokes are going regularly it's usually time to buy a new wheel...but in three years not three months!!

nation

I would have though that the spoke should go before stripping the thread in the nipple...

unless they were overtensioned to the point of stripping the nipple thread when they were built?

UndercoverElephant

Ah, alloy nipples? Brass ones shouldn't do that. To be honest, if the spoke tension was so bad that a single spoke went, chances are that it'll have damaged more than the ones that went.

I would re-lace the wheel with decent spokes and rims. Actually, scratch that, I would have the shop re-lace the wheel with decent spokes and rims.

Headhuunter

I had a cheapo Apollo (Halfords) bike a few years back and the spokes were constantly popping and snapping. In the end it was down to the rubbish wheels. I only weigh 12.5 stone...

gb155

fossyant wrote:

It's usually because the wheels are crap and machine built. The spoke tension is often wrong, leading to fails.

+1

Consider the wheels I rode on at 34+ stone !!!!!

Wrath Rob

Had the same problem as Headhunter with my Cape Wrath. Still got the same rear wheel on it, I just don't ride it enough to warrant buying new wheels for a MTB that I ride once a year. Now, if it was one of the road bikes, it would definitely be time for some nice new wheels

bdave262000

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Ah, alloy nipples? Brass ones shouldn't do that. To be honest, if the spoke tension was so bad that a single spoke went, chances are that it'll have damaged more than the ones that went.

I would re-lace the wheel with decent spokes and rims. Actually, scratch that, I would have the shop re-lace the wheel with decent spokes and rims.

Yes when it happened the second time I did ask them to check the tension on all the spokes. They also offered to re-build the wheel if it happend again (after second time) but I sort of lost my faith in them when it happend the third time so they agreed to send it back and get Marin to sort it out with WTB, not sure how long thats going to take. Maybe I should have taken them up on their re-build offer and asked for Brass nipples.

MonkeyMonster

Might be dodgy set of spokes? Re-tensioning can't do owt if there is a manufacturing issue at fault...

UndercoverElephant

There's a lot of wheel-builders who won't replace broken spokes on wheels they haven't built themselves (or at least that haven't been hand-built using quality components). The problem is that you replace the broken spokes and then the customer comes back to you a week later with more broken spokes and no confidence in your abilities. It's the original components/build that will be at fault. All your wheel-builder can do is fix the broken bits; they can't fix the bits that haven't broken yet.