Ridgeback Flight 04, Alfine hub, broken spokes

POHB

Hi,
Wondering if anyone else if having the same issue as me?
A few months back I bought a Ridgeback Flight 04 with the Alfine 8 speed hub gears. Generally very happy with it, but a month ago discovered I had 6 broken spokes in the rear wheel. I guess they had gone sequentially over a period of days and I just hadn't noticed because the rim was still fairly true and with the disk brakes there was no rubbing.
Anyway I took it back to the shop to get it repaired under warranty, Madison (Ridgeback's AKA) demanded to see the wheel as they claimed they'd had no similar issues, so the shop couldn't just fix it. However, the shop was very good and ordered a new bike in so they could swap the wheels and get me back on the road ASAP.
Four weeks later and a spoke has broken in the replacement wheel. Again Madison are being awkward and refusing to acknowledge there is a quality problem.
I'm not a fat guy and I haven't been carrying heavy panniers or jumping off kerbs so there's no excuse.
So, anyone else had similar problems that I can quote?
Thanks,
- P

The Rookie

Not a very common bike, so I doubt it.

The truth is that bad spokes tend to be built in batches, hence if there is a bad batch out there it's likely the whole wheel will have them and another wheel built at a similar time (like the one you now have) will have spokes from the same batch.

I'd suggest to Madison they take it up with their wheel supplier! Besides the onus is on them to prove it IS your fault not for you to prove it IS NOT.

ugo.santalucia

To cut costs they use low quality spokes in carbon steel, often galvanised in black, so they won't rust. There is only one real world solution, which is to rebuild the wheel with some stainless steel, quality spokes like Sapim or DT Swiss. It's going to cost you around 40 to 50 quid, see if that makes sense.
You can go the warranty route, but you will get more of the same in the best case scenario. Sometimes it's better to fork out and sort out the issue once and for all

POHB

Ho hum, another morning another broken spoke.
Ridgeback have gone on holiday http://www.ridgeback.co.uk/contact/email "The Ridgeback team are away from 30th June 2014 until 18th August 2014 & are unavailable to answer your email."
What, all of them?

jonnyboy77

What is the shop that sold you the bike doing to help you?

- Jon

POHB

The shop has now done the right thing and completely rebuilt the wheel for me with Sapim spokes, at their suggestion and expense.
They're not happy with the faceless corporation that is Madison, I'm very happy with the service I've had from Cycle Surgery in sorting this out. Glad I bought from a shop rather than online.

The Rookie

Well done to CS for sorting this out, though under the Sale of Goods act they were liable they should have had the proper support from Madison, 7 weeks with no support is unbelievable!

jamesco

POHB wrote:

Wondering if anyone else if having the same issue as me?

Yep, this morning my Flight 04 had two broken spokes on the rear wheel, one opposite the other.

I'm not sure what to do - your bike shop was pretty decent about repair, but mine (Cycle Surgery) appear to have not seen a hub-geared bike before: when it was bought, the yellow hub cable marks were out by 3-4mm so it changed gear all by itself; the second time they had it in (for mudguard attachment) they didn't route the gear cable properly so it wouldn't even change gear.

Mike_L

Hi,

I've also got one of these (Winter bike) & also had the broken spokes issue.
I would have thought it would be more resistant to this as the bike is marketed as
low maintenance (i.e disks & hub gear)
I guess it might be weight-related , as the wheel itself is pretty heavy & I use panniers on mine.

I've since bought some DT Swiss spokes off Ebay & have replaced a few spokes as they go
(they always seem to go in pairs for me & it's always on the back)

The spokes just about fit around the rear sprocket without having to remove it from the wheel - I recall having to 'flex' the spoke to get clearance.

I'm about to replace the gear cable as I'm currently limited to 5 useable gears - hopefully mine will change gears more smoothly afterwards !

Mike

The Rookie

jamesco wrote:

t mine (Cycle Surgery) appear to have not seen a hub-geared bike before

The OP was dealing with Cycle Surgery......

I think Madison will now struggle to blame any individual owner, they need to do the right thing now and sort owners out the first time and properly!

jamesco

The Rookie wrote:

The OP was dealing with Cycle Surgery......

Yeah, I worked that out a bit late :oops:

POHB: which branch of Cycle Surgery was it that rebuilt the wheel for you?

avid

Hi I have exactly the same problem i.e. rear wheel with broken spokes. I would have posted on this board last year (I bought my flight 04 in July 2014) but have only started using again this Summer.

will let you know how i get on with my retailer in Cambridge. The retailer mentioned he had another customer with an identical problem so maybe it's a bad batch. regards David

GuernseySam

Yep, having same issue. New Flight 4 with Alfine hub and AlexRims ... started snapping rear wheel spokes within a week or so (always at the nipple end).

Put it down to dodgy factory spokes so had wheel rebuilt with DT spokes in a triple laced pattern .... same issue, spokes keep popping at the nipple end. One every week so it seems.

Front wheel never been a problem.

Bike only ever used for commuting, on pretty smooth roads it has to be said.

Swapping over to a new double butted touring rim and a rebuild with DT spokes again. Will be seriously stroppy if the same issue keeps happening.

The Rookie

Decent spokes shouldn't be snapping there, and I can't see the rim or hub having anything to do with a spoke failure, I presume you mean a double walled rim......

imatfaal

GuernseySam wrote:

Yep, having same issue. New Flight 4 with Alfine hub and AlexRims ... started snapping rear wheel spokes within a week or so (always at the nipple end).

Put it down to dodgy factory spokes so had wheel rebuilt with DT spokes in a triple laced pattern .... same issue, spokes keep popping at the nipple end. One every week so it seems.

Front wheel never been a problem.

Bike only ever used for commuting, on pretty smooth roads it has to be said.

Swapping over to a new double butted touring rim and a rebuild with DT spokes again. Will be seriously stroppy if the same issue keeps happening.

I had that problem when I bought my first bike 5 years ago - spokes kept popping. Had various replacements and a rebuild before I lost patience. I read everything I could find on the net about wheel building (there is a great thread here in Road Forum) bought Roger Mussson's e-book and took the plunge. Took both wheels apart and rebuilt - haven't had a broken spoke since.

ugo.santalucia

GuernseySam wrote:

Yep, having same issue. New Flight 4 with Alfine hub and AlexRims ... started snapping rear wheel spokes within a week or so (always at the nipple end).

Put it down to dodgy factory spokes so had wheel rebuilt with DT spokes in a triple laced pattern .... same issue, spokes keep popping at the nipple end. One every week so it seems.

Front wheel never been a problem.

Bike only ever used for commuting, on pretty smooth roads it has to be said.

Swapping over to a new double butted touring rim and a rebuild with DT spokes again. Will be seriously stroppy if the same issue keeps happening.

A wheel built on Alfine should be virtually indestructible... to me it seems a case of bad build. Building a wheel is pretty straightforward, yet many shops seem to consistently get it wrong, my feeling is that they are time pressured to do a quick job and probably don't have much experience.
As above, build it yourself, take the time it needs and it will be fine... most folks who build their first wheel do a very good job of of it... it really IS NOT that difficult

The Rookie

I've built two sets of wheels, the second is a super lightweight set for my MTB, rim max weight quoted as 75g (ready to ride I'm over 90) hammered on local trails and trail centres, rear needed a slight retrue (it was a few MM out) after two years. Building them yourself is not that hard, take your time and whenever I felt tense/frustrated I'd walk away for a bit.