Loose Spokes

crossed
crossed Posts: 237
edited January 2015 in Workshop
I've just been swapping over a knackered tyre on my CX bike and noticed that the spokes on the rear wheel are loose. In the case of a couple of the spokes they're loose enough that I could turn the nipple by hand.

The spokes are only loose on one side of the wheel, the non-drive side.

I've never had any issues with wheels before so I was just wondering if this is reasonably normal?

I've no idea how long they've been like this as I've never bothered checking the wheels since they were first fitted about a year ago!

Comments

  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,312
    Tension can go down a bit, but if it is low to start with, that's the result. You need to get them tensioned or they will fail
    left the forum March 2023
  • crossed
    crossed Posts: 237
    ugo.santalucia wrote:
    Tension can go down a bit, but if it is low to start with, that's the result. You need to get them tensioned or they will fail

    They must've been a bit low to start with as I've got another two sets of similar wheels and have had no issues at all with them and they've had a lot of abuse on the MTB.

    The wheel rims in question are Stans Iron Cross which according to the Stans site seem to have quite low maximum tension compared to some of their other rims.
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,312
    Are they Supesrstar?
    left the forum March 2023
  • crossed
    crossed Posts: 237
    ugo.santalucia wrote:
    Are they Supesrstar?

    No, not Superstar.

    They were built by a fairly well known/highly rated shop. I can't really complain though as they've taken quite a lot of about over the past couple of thousand miles with no issues.
    I've got a wheel stand, a spoke key and a tension meter. What could possibly go wrong if I try and fix it myself :lol:
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,312
    The thing with very light rims is that once you fit an inflated tyre, that results in a big tension drop, which can initiate unwinding... it's the reason I prefer to use stronger and stiffer rims that do that to a much lesser extent.

    My Crono 28 were constantly out of true and it was always down to tension dropping... eventually got rid of them
    left the forum March 2023

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