Can heat be cause for spokes to snap on its own?

guamtopher
guamtopher Posts: 7
edited October 2013 in Workshop
Hello, Need some help... I stored my bike for while I was gone for two months, and came back to half the spokes on both wheels broken. Can a bike stored in high heat be cause for spokes to snap? Is it possible for heat to cause the tube/tire to expand then bend the rim and snap the spokes? I don't believe it, but not sure what else would've caused half the spokes to be broken on each wheel while in storage.

If anyone has any thoughts on this, please share with me.

Comments

  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    in a word no.

    something was wrong before.

    where have they failed?
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Half the spokes on each wheel broken?? Just how hot do you think it might have been?? Was it in a black container in the desert?
  • majormantra
    majormantra Posts: 2,094
    Not a chance.

    Are the nipples aluminium? It's conceivable that, given the right conditions, corrosion could cause multiple nipple failures, but in that case you would see that the nipples had failed and not the spokes themselves. And I wouldn't expect many failures without actually moving the wheels and subjecting them to loads.
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    For the spokes to break they would've had to be stretched.

    I assume the metal of the rim is different to that of the spoke - so the rim would've had to expand significantly more than the capacity of the spoke - or the spoke contract more than the rim.

    Considering bikes ride in everything from below freezing to boiling hot temperatures (my own experience is -8°C to +42°C) on the same wheel without issue then for heat to be the cause I'd have to assume fast localised heat change on wheels where the spokes were already highly tensioned.
  • seanoconn
    seanoconn Posts: 11,674
    Sounds unlikely but I wouldn't rule it out entirely. Temperature in storage has effected the cables/shifting on my bikes previously.
    Pinno, מלך אידיוט וחרא מכונאי
  • Barteos
    Barteos Posts: 657
    guamtopher wrote:
    Can heat be cause for spokes to snap on its own?

    Only over 768 mph :wink:
  • term1te
    term1te Posts: 1,462
    Did someone else have access to the bike whilst you were away? If so I'd ask a few questions. Strange things can happen, especially in a shared house. We used to have a small tent which lived in the garage of a shared house. It hadn't been used for a year or so, but when we did get it out of the bag, several neat squares had been cut out of it. Mice aren't so neat, its still a mystery how it happened. So unless you have very heavy mice around your way, I'd suspect someone was involved.
    The Master
    The Moser
    The VN
  • antfly
    antfly Posts: 3,276
    How was the bike stored ?
    Smarter than the average bear.
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    antfly wrote:
    How was the bike stored ?

    In one of these! :lol:

    Hammer_mill.jpg
    Faster than a tent.......
  • guamtopher
    guamtopher Posts: 7
    Here is a photo of the rear wheel
  • guamtopher
    guamtopher Posts: 7
    Here is the front wheel
  • guamtopher
    guamtopher Posts: 7
    photo of spokes, this is the closest I can get with an Iphone 4s
  • guamtopher
    guamtopher Posts: 7
    Thank you for all your replys. I don't believe "heat" can be the reason to cause a tire/wheel to expand and snap the spokes, though I just wanted to be sure. The Bike was stored in a spare room in my house that was supposedly locked up. The max temperature it would've got in there was probably 115/46 degrees. And, I just realized... if it got any hotter, it would've had an effect on my girlfriends makeup etc...
  • guamtopher
    guamtopher Posts: 7
    On a different, note... Not sure if you can tell by looking at the spokes...

    - Do you think they were cut, with some sort of wire cutters?
    - Do you think they were stepped on, or kicked in by someone?

    Thanks!
  • BillyMansell
    BillyMansell Posts: 817
    That looks like a deliberate act,cut rather than stepped on.

    On the spoke you're holding, there appears to be some compression of the cross section suggesting it was cut. Double bladed wire or bolt cutters may produce corresponding compression on either side of the cross section whereas an anvil and blade cutter (e.g. some garden pruners) may produce a single compression on the cross section.
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    From those pics it looks like deliberate damage, take the rear the hard to get spokes have been left.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • andrew_s
    andrew_s Posts: 2,511
    nicklouse wrote:
    the hard to get spokes have been left.
    and they have all been cut between the cross and the rim where it's quick & easy to put the cutters on.

    If a spoke fails naturally, it's almost always at the end, and if it isn't, the next most likely place is at the cross.
  • desweller
    desweller Posts: 5,175
    They have been cut. The spokes are stronger in UTS than the rim and will typically fail at the contact point anyway; if it had been stepped on then they would simply bend the rim or fail at the nipple or elbow.

    No doubt you have your suspicions.
    - - - - - - - - - -
    On Strava.{/url}
  • term1te
    term1te Posts: 1,462
    Hate to say it, but I can't see how that was caused by anything other than someone deliberately cutting the spokes with wire cutters.
    The Master
    The Moser
    The VN
  • satanas
    satanas Posts: 1,303
    There is one alternative to wire cutters. Quite a while back now, we saw spokes break like this on one batch of a particular bike, the problem being defective manufacturing of the spokes, resulting in amazing brittleness. All that was needed to snap them off like the proverbial carrots was a very small amount of lateral pressure. Once the problem became known all the wheels were replaced under warranty.

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