Broken spokes

Woodmonkey

I've just broken my 4th spoke in as many months, I'm fixing them myself as per zinn, the wheel runs true when I'm done and all the spokes seem to be under decent tension. What are the possibilities?
Have I reached the limit of my home mechanic skills,
Am I just a fat b@st at 15 1/2 stone)?
Could the oem voodoo spokes not be great (the replaced ones haven't broken)?
Anything else?

nicklouse

once one has gone and then followed by others it shows that the original build was poor and it really needs a rebuild with new spokes.

stubs

Woodmonkey wrote:

I've just broken my 4th spoke in as many months, I'm fixing them myself as per zinn, the wheel runs true when I'm done and all the spokes seem to be under decent tension. What are the possibilities?
Have I reached the limit of my home mechanic skills,
Am I just a fat b@st at 15 1/2 stone)?
Could the oem voodoo spokes not be great (the replaced ones haven't broken)?
Anything else?

Some cheap plain guage spokes are unbelievably nasty. I have a plastic tube which used to have a poster in it but now has all the odds and ends spokes thrown in it for the day I need a spare spoke. I have a bundle of nice double butted black Alpina spokes that came from a scrapped Merlin cycles wheel that my mate killed and another bundle of no name spokes that came out of a cheapo wheel I scrapped. The difference is amazing the Alpina all nice and even with the heads all at the same angle and relatively straight with just a slight bow from the build. The cheapo spokes look they were run over by a bus kinked and the heads at all funny angles and shapes.

The Alpinas will be re used in a wheel one day, the cheap and nasty will probably get used for fishing dead things out of the U bend and to retrieve lost screws from under the work bench.

Woodmonkey

I'll look into rebuild but I'm thinking they prob aren't worth spending the cash on. Might just stick a new spoke on and save the cash towards some shiney new ones

Monty Dog

Replacement spokes are only 30p each (Alpina DB from sdeals.com) - replace all the spokes, retension and retrue the wheel and you'll have learnt a valuable skill. Plenty of guidance online. No need for any fancy trueing stands etc - simply use the frame and forks.

stubs

Monty Dog wrote:

Replacement spokes are only 30p each (Alpina DB from sdeals.com) - replace all the spokes, retension and retrue the wheel and you'll have learnt a valuable skill. Plenty of guidance online. No need for any fancy trueing stands etc - simply use the frame and forks.

Good price but limited sizes nothing suitable for a 26'' wheel

Woodmonkey

Sounds like a plan, might still get the new ones as the original aren't too great and I've wanted to upgrade them for a while, then have a crack at rebuilding them.