Snapping Spokes

the biggest factor in breaking spokes is your wieght. are you a big guy? you may want to consider getting a wheel built that would normally go on a tandem bike. something like a big, beafy rim, with 36 spokes, 3 cross lacing, 14 gauge spokes. ask the shop to build you the strongest wheel possible that will fit your bike frame.
check out http://www.velomax.com/ they make some strong road wheels, and they are performance minded too. i'm not too sure about the testimonials, who knows if they are true?

i just read that you're riding a mtn bike. thats good, you can get a downhill rear wheel which will surely hold up. ask your shop about some downhill wheels that have a breaking sureface. most downhill wheels won't, because downhill bikes almost always use disc brakes.

i myself have been breaking spokes a lot lately. i'm not a huge rider at 79kg. my wheel(32spoke open pro, powertap hub, 14gauge spokes 3 cross) is not that old, only about 6 months on it. today i broke the 3rd spoke in 3 weeks, during a sprint. good thing i carry extra spokes on me. i also need to true the wheel after every ride. i am having my shop build me a new wheel with my powertap hub this winter.

does anybody have any suggestions for the strongest possible rim i could use? has to be 32 spoke and 700c. maybe the Velocity deep V? i don't care about weight, i just want something to hold up to my training, and still be able to use my powertap hub.

velomanct said:

the biggest factor in breaking spokes is your wieght. are you a big guy? you may want to consider getting a wheel built that would normally go on a tandem bike. something like a big, beafy rim, with 36 spokes, 3 cross lacing, 14 gauge spokes. ask the shop to build you the strongest wheel possible that will fit your bike frame.
check out velomax.comvelomax.comOpen ↗ they make some strong road wheels, and they are performance minded too. i'm not too sure about the testimonials, who knows if they are true?

i myself have been breaking spokes a lot lately. i'm not a huge rider at 79kg. my wheel(32spoke open pro, powertap hub, 14gauge spokes 3 cross) is not that old, only about 6 months on it. today i broke the 3rd spoke in 3 weeks, during a sprint. good thing i carry extra spokes on me. i also need to true the wheel after every ride. i am having my shop build me a new wheel with my powertap hub this winter.

does anybody have any suggestions for the strongest possible rim i could use? has to be 32 spoke and 700c. maybe the Velocity deep V? i don't care about weight, i just want something to hold up to my training, and still be able to use my powertap hub.

I am a big guy; 95 kg or so. I guess I will look into getting a stronger wheel, or buy my own truing stand....🙂

mallen said:

I am a big guy; 95 kg or so. I guess I will look into getting a stronger wheel, or buy my own truing stand....🙂

try a downhill wheel. ask your shop.

velomanct said:

try a downhill wheel. ask your shop.

Thanks for the input; I expect I will get them to fix this one again, try to stick to non-dirt roads, and figure out what I need to get by the time I need it again.

mallen said:

I have been recently been riding for fitness on a Cannondale H600, anywhere from 75-250 Km/week. I snapped several rear spokes, on 2 separate occasions, and finally had the entire wheel re-spoked. After 400 km, another spoke has blown out. It is a Deore hub with a Weinmann Zac 19 rim, 700cx38 tires. The bike shop in town is checking it out again, but have suggested that it is a 'bum' hub, and that I may have to get a new one to get rid of the problem. Does this seem right? I ride mostly on paved roads, with the occasional dirt road thrown in, both with a few potholes. Any help would be appreciated.

Mike

The problem is not your hub.
The problem is the quality of the wheel build and the strength of the rim.
If you want to rebuild with DT Competition 14/15 Double Butted spokes and Mavic A719 spokes your wheel will take all the riding you want and more without breaking spokes.
Other rims you could use are Velocity Deep V or Dyad. Velocity Dyad and Mavic A719 work much better with the wider tires you are using.

For more information on those rims:

<http://www.velocityusa.com/>

<http://www.mavic.com/servlet/srt/mavic/asph-prod_fiche?product.id=64&lg=uk>

and the DT Competition 14/15 DB spokes:

<http://www.dtswiss.ch/index.asp?fuseaction=spokes.bikedetail&id=7>

We use Velocity Dyad on our 700C Touring Tandem with loads exceeding 450 pounds. They stay straight and don't break spokes for over 14,000 miles.
I have used Mavic T519, the model before T520 and A719, for loaded touring around North America of over 240 pounds and 17,000 miles without truing or replacing one spoke.
There are other rims worth considering, including Bontrager Fairlane OSB and Ritchey Trekking OSB rims for the rear with and offset spoke bed.
All these rims are much stronger than your existing rim and don't flex as much under load variations. Flexing under load variations is what causes the spokes to fail from fatigue.

Thanks; the rims seem to be in the price range I could handle, and exactly what I am looking for as far as toughness; I would like to graduate to doing some touring on this bike so if I can upgrade now to a rim that will take that all the better.

Mike