Triban 5 Spokes Snapping

fatdaz

My mate has a Triban 5 and he is having spokes snap on the rear wheel pretty much every other ride, always the rear wheel but both drive and non drive sides. He's a big unit at 115kg and some of the road surfaces aren't great but is this to be expected? The Triban wheels are 32 spoke but I don't know anything about the quality. He is taking the bike into Secathlon to get the spokes fixed every time, does he need to look at other wheels or should he take it somewhere else to be checked out and fixed?

Cheers

drlodge

32 spoke wheels shouldn't be breaking even at that weight, and Decathlon shouldn't have sold the bike to a 115kg person if they're not up to the job.

ugo.santalucia

Not necessarily true, heavy guys fatigue spokes quicker and if the spokes are not very good quality, they don't last very long. Rebuilds are often not worth on basic wheelsets as in the meantime other things tend to go wrong (bearings, free hub etc... ) Realistically he should be looking at new wheels pretty soon and for a guy that size the only sensible way to go is bespoke (which sounds expensive but doesn't need to be) as pretty much all road wheels on the market of decent quality come with a weight limit lower than he is

drlodge

Thanks for adding your experience to the discussion Ugo :-)

BTW, the cost of "bespoke" wheels neededn't be more than around the £300 mark, that is certainly not expensive for a very good set of wheels. There are plenty of "what wheels" threads on this forum to wade through.

fatdaz

Thanks for the replies. I'll talk to him about hand builds but I know he's very strapped for cash. Is there an option to have a rear only built and keep the stock front as he doesn't have any issues with the front?

Ugo - I have your details from when you built me a set of wheels last year. If he's interested I'll come back to you with details and a target budget

rolf_f

drlodge wrote:

Thanks for adding your experience to the discussion Ugo :-)

BTW, the cost of "bespoke" wheels neededn't be more than around the £300 mark, that is certainly not expensive for a very good set of wheels. There are plenty of "what wheels" threads on this forum to wade through.

The cost of bespoke wheels needn't be more than the £200 a pair mark more realistically. If your main aim is durability, then the sort of rims Spa Cycles make for tourers are spot on and tend to come in well below £200. They (and any wheelebuilder) will happily make a rear only.

secretsam

I got some second hand handbuilts (Mavic on 105) from the CTC website, paid £45 IIRC

Had no problems and I'm a total salad dodger

ugo.santalucia

You can go as low as it makes sense to go. Personally I draw a line at 105 hubs and don't build Tiagra. Rigida rims are cheap as chips and good quality, they are also generally quite heavy and uncool, if your friend cares about those things.

Buckie2k5

i started cycling at that weight on a triban 3 the wheels were terrible. Stuck a set of 100 quid fulcrum 7s on and not a problem since. Loved them that much i bought a set for my new bike. No spoke snaps and wheels still run true after few years of dogs abuse.

rolf_f

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Rigida rims are cheap as chips and good quality, they are also generally quite heavy and uncool, if your friend cares about those things.

Do you think the kids might dig Exal rims any more than Rigida?!

fatdaz

115kg in Lycra has uncool in spades already

desweller

FWIW your pal probably won't need to replace the front wheel; just the rear (as long as he doesn't mind mismatch).

In which case he's looking at £100 or less for a robust build. A few years ago I picked up a new 32 spoke Mavic A719 rim on Deore hub for £90...strong as you like.

Manc33

If the wheels are anything like on a Triban 3 just replace them if you can afford to. On these lower end Decathlon bikes this is where they seem to cut corners, more than other areas of the bike. My wheels weighed a ton (2100g) and the bearings went lumpy on the back wheel after less than 1000 miles. Oh and they kept needing to be trued (while my 1400g wheelset that is in comparison really flimsy, never has needed truing).

YGWYPF