Breaking spokes?

JGTR

Hi all, just broken a second spoke within 2 months on my 10 month old e13 wheels (YT Jeffsy). Is it best to get the whole wheel rebuilt as last time I believe they just replaced the spoke and trued the rim.....both times the spoke broke riding on the road at the start of a ride, I don’t know much about wheels and want to get this sorted rather than have to keep taking it back
to the shop

Any advice welcome.....new wheels are not really an option unfortunately

The Rookie

I'd go back to YT and ask them to sort it out, its well within what could be termed reasonable (as per consumer rights act nee SoGA). Personally I'd expect a new wheel as 'a customer goodwill gesture' (ignoring the fact its a legal responsibility).

Unless its had a good caning spokes shouldn't fail for at least 3 years and I've ridden with many way over that, if the wheel has been built with a dodgy batch they'll just keep on failing.

steve_sordy

Is the spoke tension the same?
One side will be different to the other, but each side should be consistent with each other. Lay the wheel on its side and ping each spoke with an Allen key. Whatever the sound you get, if one spoke has a higher note, then it is tighter than the others, looser if its a lower note. Major differences are worth checking.

I have never trued a wheel in my life, but I believe that there is a such a thing as a spoke tension checking tool. This is the proper thing to use, because the spokes may all sound the same, but all be too high a tension or too low, and hence beak too soon.

swod1

the broken spokes are they in the same area as could be as already said too tight spoke tension when the wheel was built.

I've replaced a broken spoke before and then the wheel was fine never had any further problems.

Its something i'd be interesting in learning and might buy a wheel truing stand, got a couple of broken wheels to practice on.

JGTR

Both broke in the same area, I had the last one replaced and the wheel tried by a LBS so they may. It have checked the tension on the other spokes? I’ve submitted a warranty claim as they are less than a year old, failing that try a different LBS and ask for a complete rebuild and see if that makes any difference.

It is something that I should learn, worried I’d ruin a wheel, seems like a black art! Anyone know any good online resources to learn?

swod1

JGTR wrote:

Both broke in the same area, I had the last one replaced and the wheel tried by a LBS so they may. It have checked the tension on the other spokes? I’ve submitted a warranty claim as they are less than a year old, failing that try a different LBS and ask for a complete rebuild and see if that makes any difference.

It is something that I should learn, worried I’d ruin a wheel, seems like a black art! Anyone know any good online resources to learn?

hmm same area, spoke tension too tight i would say aren't they in pairs if you look at how a wheel is laced? but a good bike shop would notice that on truing the wheel and adjust it accordingly?

if one spoke broke then i doubt the wheel would need truing mine didn't and worked fine after just thought it was a spoke too tight and it just broke.

lets see what happens with the warranty claim.

JGTR

Defo needed to be trued after breaking the spokes!!

cycleclinic

the 3 years thing is false. spoke fail through fatiue. so if you do 10,000 miles a year on them then dont expect them to last 3 years.

Still spoke failing though fatigue this quickly is poor. but they maybe damage induced failures. If you chain has gone off it probably has dmaged spokes. these spokes will fail and that is not covered by good will or warranty. so before anyone say what the OP's rights are first the wheel should be inspected.

I had this this week customer X comes in and complains after a year and around 10 miles that the wheel bearings had collopased bearing and the axle is bent. The hub is fine on inspection, brand new in fact. bearrings buttery smooth and axle not bent. the customer would not accept this and repeated his claim several times. I replaced the bearings and the freehub and the hub felt the same. customer could still feel a tight spot, there was no tight tight spot. what it turns out he was feeling was the tiny vibrations of the the freehub body mechanism as it freewheeled in his hand.

so please dont go into a shop demanding this and that. the shop maybe able to spot thing you have not. it could be a dodgy build however and if so the retailer will sort it out with the importer. If you dont know much about wheels you will have to take that shops word for it. no one here can prove otherwise because we have not seen the wheel.

measuring the tension now is too late. I can guarantee there will be variation after a breakage.

swod1 your diagnosis means nothing without inspecting. I do this for a living and will not claim i know the cause of this failure or what the remedy is without inspecting first, except replacing the broken spoke is not a long term fix. Thats a given.

The Rookie

JGTR wrote:

Defo needed to be trued after breaking the spokes!!

Usually you just have to fit the new spoke and tension to the same ‘ping’ noise as the other spokes (on the same side) and it will be true, no need to treat your LBS as a charity.

Plenty of good YouTube videos on how to true a wheel anyway, always done my own since I first broke a spoke (and built a few wheels as well).

billycool

I've got e13 wheels and went through a phase of breaking spokes fairly regualarly (they were at least 3 years old by then). I ended up getting the rear wheel rebuit with thicker/stronger spokes. It was £50 for a rebuild rather than £10 per spoke.

The bike place said that the larger flanges on the hub put more pressure on the spoke nipples (they were at more of an angle apparently). It also seemed that the spokes were made of spaghetti.

Anyway - wheel was rebuilt in March and all good since then. My front wheel is currently getting the same treatment.

As your wheels are much newer you can raise a warranty or SoGA claim. They may say they are consumable items but could change as a gesture of goodwill etc.

Personally, I don't think spokes should be breaking on such a new wheelset like that, so push for some sort of warranty replacements. You won't be the first person to have issues with e13 wheels.

The Rookie

It won’t be a SoGA claim as it was replaced by the CRA.

JGTR

Update - sent it back to Silverfish, has been rebuilt and new free hub internals fitted as casette had a bit of a wobble, all under warranty

billycool

JGTR wrote:

Update - sent it back to Silverfish, has been rebuilt and new free hub internals fitted as casette had a bit of a wobble, all under warranty

Good to hear. They do have a decent warranty on them. Mine went back via the original owner twice for freehub issues so I hope yours is sorted.

I also found that the hubs were quite hard on bearings, so keep an eye on that as well.