Giant Defy broken spokes!

jfrankland1991

I had a new 2015 Giant Defy 1 through an insurance claim last October, I've done around 700 miles since but beginning to have wheel issues!

I noticed an intermitent clicking noise coming from the rear wheel more or less since I had the bike but thought nothing of it as it didnt affect the performance of the bike. However, last weekend one of my spokes snapped, fortunately the wheel didnt buckle and i managed to ride the 20 or so miles back (carefully). Took wheel into LBS to have spoke replaced, wheel trued and spoke tensions checked.

I thought everything had sorted itself so went out for a ride yesterday, no clicking until about 25 miles in when the clicking reappeeared and lo and behold another spoke snaps!

I am going to take it back into LBS to be assessed etc. but wondered if anyone had any advice or experienced this themselves?

Thanks in advance.

izza

All Giant wheels are rated up to 130KG rider weight.

As such, unless you are above that, no reason for them to go repeatedly.

Are QR's tight?

froze

If the wheel didn't buckle I doubt you're overweight, I think the wheels were not tensioned correctly from the factory then the LBS didn't check the tension before selling the bike to you...or the wheels were faulty from the factory, either way you have a warranty so get them fixed or replace.

Sutton_Rider

I have the same bike / model. I've done 300 miles so far I've not had any issues - Yet!

ugo.santalucia

Few makes know their way around China as well as Giant do. I am pretty sure they know how to source a set of wheels for 10 USD, which is probably what you have on at the moment. It comes to no surprise that the quality is dreadful.

homers_double

Is the LBS in question the same who supplied the bike? If so you might want to raise a warranty issue with them.

DanGateau

I had a similar issue with the wheels that came on my 2014 TCR composite1. Clicking which then developed into a broken spoke. Took the wheel back for repair then the spoke came lose a few miles later. The 2nd time was the LBS's fault because the spoke tension seemed way too lose before id even ridden it.

All this happened at about 4000 miles.

cougie

4000 miles isn't bad with a few broken spokes ?

In the good old days we all used hand made wheels and even those would have the occasional broken spoke. We just used to replace and tighten and carry on - no dramas.

Obviously if it happens repeatedly - you might have issues...

ugo.santalucia

cougie wrote:

4000 miles isn't bad with a few broken spokes ?

In the good old days we all used hand made wheels and even those would have the occasional broken spoke. We just used to replace and tighten and carry on - no dramas.

Obviously if it happens repeatedly - you might have issues...

In those days spokes were chromed rather than stainless and had a much shorter fatigue life. Today a wheel well built with top quality spokes should never break any.
Over the years I must have fitted something around 20-30,000 spokes. If you exclude those that broke as a result of a crash, you are looking at less than 10 that broke for fatigue. So that's something around 0.005%

cougie

I hadn't thought of that ! Ta Ugo.

fudgey

My mate is having trouble with his colnago acr, on artemis wheels. The front one on the first few rides had tinking sound, turned out a nipple had undone itself and the spoke was rattling in the rim. He sorted that then a few rides later a spoke snapped. Took to lbs and had both wheels looked at. Since then 2 more have snapped on the front in one ride, then a rear went. And sunday another rear snapped. He is back again at the lbs having them repaired again. Supplier said if it happens again they will give a replacement upgrade set of wheels.

I have no idea on the weight rating for them, but i also have a colnago acr, i have had mine longer and done more miles and it has been spot on. No issues at all!

So its an odd one.

ugo.santalucia

Fudgey wrote:

My mate is having trouble with his colnago acr, on artemis wheels. The front one on the first few rides had tinking sound, turned out a nipple had undone itself and the spoke was rattling in the rim. He sorted that then a few rides later a spoke snapped. Took to lbs and had both wheels looked at. Since then 2 more have snapped on the front in one ride, then a rear went. And sunday another rear snapped. He is back again at the lbs having them repaired again. Supplier said if it happens again they will give a replacement upgrade set of wheels.

I have no idea on the weight rating for them, but i also have a colnago acr, i have had mine longer and done more miles and it has been spot on. No issues at all!

So its an odd one.

It's not the weight, it's the tension. The wheel needed to be retensioned immediately, now it's too late, as spokes are fatigued.
Problem is there are still a lot of builders and machines that don't seem to be able to get the basic tension right...

fudgey

Thanks Ugo. So what would the recommended resolve be? All new spokes?

Yesterdays one was the first to snap at the hub. The rest have been at the rim end as far as i am aware.

Hmm, looks like replacement wheels may be on the way!

ugo.santalucia

Fudgey wrote:

Thanks Ugo. So what would the recommended resolve be? All new spokes?

Yesterdays one was the first to snap at the hub. The rest have been at the rim end as far as i am aware.

Hmm, looks like replacement wheels may be on the way!

Which Artemis? Carbon or alloy? If they are the alloy ones it's not worth spending too much money on them. But yes, rebuilding is the only solution if viable

fudgey

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Fudgey wrote:

Thanks Ugo. So what would the recommended resolve be? All new spokes?

Yesterdays one was the first to snap at the hub. The rest have been at the rim end as far as i am aware.

Hmm, looks like replacement wheels may be on the way!

Which Artemis? Carbon or alloy? If they are the alloy ones it's not worth spending too much money on them. But yes, rebuilding is the only solution if viable

Yes alloy rims. Thanks for the info. As said mine have been fine so no need to upgrade yet, but they did say they will replace if it snaps another spoke so i guess thats the way forward.

Thanks again.

jfrankland1991

Thanks for the replies, I've gained a few pounds over new year but I'm certainly not above the 130kg weight limit :P
I got the bike from Wheelies following an insurance claim so I had no choice but to go with them. Took my bike into LBS and came to the conclusion that it was a faulty wheel so in the end getting wheels swapped with a set of Shimano RS11's for a small fee

ugo.santalucia

jfrankland1991 wrote:

Thanks for the replies, I've gained a few pounds over new year but I'm certainly not above the 130kg weight limit :P
I got the bike from Wheelies following an insurance claim so I had no choice but to go with them. Took my bike into LBS and came to the conclusion that it was a faulty wheel so in the end getting wheels swapped with a set of Shimano RS11's for a small fee

It's not a victory, but let's call it an away draw...

ajkerr73

jfrankland1991 wrote:

Thanks for the replies, I've gained a few pounds over new year but I'm certainly not above the 130kg weight limit :P
I got the bike from Wheelies following an insurance claim so I had no choice but to go with them. Took my bike into LBS and came to the conclusion that it was a faulty wheel so in the end getting wheels swapped with a set of Shimano RS11's for a small fee

I had the same issue with a Defy 1 2013 (in late 2013).

Asked the question at the LBS (Giant Dealer), got a call back in the afternoon with the offer of £100 credit towards another set of wheels.

Added a few quid and got myself some Mavic Ksyrium Equipe

jfrankland1991

That was exactly what my LBS did, repaired my wheel and he sold them back to his giant stockist for £80 so then I had that money to put towards some new wheels. Could have had a straight swap for the RS10's but for an extra £20 got RS11's. With £10 for labour it was a pretty good deal. Would certainly recommend my LBS in Gloucester that's for sure!

Sutton_Rider

Since posting on here last Monday, I spoke too soon. I went for a ride Tuesday, on the way back I could hear a tinkling sound coming from the rear wheel. Following investigation I found most of the non drive side spokes were loose. As the Defy 1 is still under guarantee it went back to the shop this morning. They have sorted it out, but they did say there was an issue with a batch of P-R2 wheels and had I left it it would have resulted in broken spokes and should I have any more problems they will talk to Giant.

Sutton_Rider

Three rides and 80 miles later the tinkling has returned, I checked the spokes, but they don't seem too bad. I've been in touch with the shop, they have spoken to Giant who say they are unaware of any problems with their wheels. That's not quite what the shop told me last week. Anyway they are going to replace both wheels with a different make.

chris_bass

Sutton Rider wrote:

Three rides and 80 miles later the tinkling has returned, I checked the spokes, but they don't seem too bad. I've been in touch with the shop, they have spoken to Giant who say they are unaware of any problems with their wheels. That's not quite what the shop told me last week. Anyway they are going to replace both wheels with a different make.

maybe a long shot but the noise could be unrelated to the other problems and just a coincidence, sometimes the tube valve can make a ticking noise if it is loose.

Sutton_Rider

I checked the valve, its tight. I stop peddling the noise continues. In fact you don't even need to ride it, just scoot along with one foot on the peddle (therefore the bike is at a slight angle) and the noise is there.

thescouselander

I've had problems with Giant wheels. I had a similar problem and Giant denied there was anything wrong despite spokes snapping every 500 miles. In the end I complained to DT Swiss since Giant had made such a big deal about the wheels being developed with them. DT Swiss had the wheels looked at and determined the spoke tension was too loose - they replaced them all and rebuilt the wheel at no cost to me.

Take from that what you will.

ugo.santalucia

cyd190468 wrote:

Somewhere in China there's a wire manufacturer who pays very low wages and makes heaps of 14g stainless wire, which is sold to some other Chinese spoke manufactiurer. Sometimes they don't do a very good job of blending the constituants of the stainless so you get a whole batch of dodgy wire and therefore dodgy spokes. About 10 years ago there was a whole batch of OEM alexrims that would either collapse while in use or spokes would snap while your bike was in the shed. It would appear it's Giant's turn.

I'm not even sure they use stainless on budget OEM wheels... you see them parked outside stations with the spokes getting oxidised

dj58

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Few makes know their way around China as well as Giant do. I am pretty sure they know how to source a set of wheels for 10 USD, which is probably what you have on at the moment. It comes to no surprise that the quality is dreadful.

The Defy 0 and 1 models use the Giant PR-2 wheel 24H/F 28H/R specs say they use Sapim Race spokes, so are you saying that the spokes along with the Giant hubs and rims are dreadful, or is it the machine built under tensioning of the spokes that is the problem, or both?

From reading on this forum I thought Sapim spokes where of reputable quality, or are you saying that Giant are using knock off, (counterfeit) Chinese copies of Sapim Race spokes?

If there is a problem with the spoke tension on Giant wheels, is this not picked up buy the LBS/Retailer, and should this not be addressed during the PDI, rectified and feedback given to Giant UK.? Admittedly it depends on how conscientious the LBS/Retailer is as to whether they check for under tensioned spokes, or do they just fit them and hope for the best?

anthdci

Bin those wheels, I had them on my defy 1 and the rear was so badly built one side of the spokes were so tight they were about to snap and the other side was so loose the rim moved side to side enough to catch the derailleur and rip it off.

dj58

anthdci wrote:

Bin those wheels, I had them on my defy 1 and the rear was so badly built one side of the spokes were so tight they were about to snap and the other side was so loose the rim moved side to side enough to catch the derailleur and rip it off.

So the problem appears to be with the build/quality control, how did Giant deal with your issue?

dj58

thescouselander wrote:

I've had problems with Giant wheels. I had a similar problem and Giant denied there was anything wrong despite spokes snapping every 500 miles. In the end I complained to DT Swiss since Giant had made such a big deal about the wheels being developed with them. DT Swiss had the wheels looked at and determined the spoke tension was too loose - they replaced them all and rebuilt the wheel at no cost to me.

Take from that what you will.

That is interesting, who did you deal with at DT Swiss to have your wheels rebuilt and where?

anthdci

DJ58 wrote:

anthdci wrote:

Bin those wheels, I had them on my defy 1 and the rear was so badly built one side of the spokes were so tight they were about to snap and the other side was so loose the rim moved side to side enough to catch the derailleur and rip it off.

So the problem appears to be with the build/quality control, how did Giant deal with your issue?

They didn't both Giant stockists, the local one I bought the bike from and the not so local one who I had the 3rd ruined rear derailleur replaced by blamed my riding style. It wasn't until the spokes started to snap that I realised it was the wheel at fault. I stuck my better set of wheels that I was saving for the summer on and binned the crap wheels.

rossal

I'm also having the same problem. I've had my Giant Defy 1 for 6 weeks, and first noticed a ticking sound near my rear wheel after about 4 weeks. I've only ridden around 400 miles.

The ticking noise happens every complete rotation and is coupled with a metallic creaking. It's more noticeable when I'm turning or putting more pressure on the back wheel. The noise only happens under load.

I've stripped the bike, cleaned and re-greased it. The rear hub seems to be fine and the wheel seems true to me. When feeling the tension of the spokes, they make the same creaking noise. I took my bike in to be inspected, explaining that I thought it was the spokes. The bike shop disagreed and thinks it could be the rear hub. They're going to have a look at it for me.

I'll report back what they find.