breaking spokes?

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by bcsst26
I don't know a lot about bikes. Well I bought a new bike and road it for almost a year. Then I broke my first spoke. That was about 3 weeks ago. Well on the way to work today I broke another one. I was wandering if this is normal? I commute everyday to work and hate sending it to a shop because it takes to long to get it back especially when you commuted every day to work. Should I get it fixed again? Did the bike shop that I take it do a bad job replacing the old spoke? Should I by a new rim. Any suggestions if I do buy a new one. I just want something that can handle some rough road. Weight doesn't matter that much. I don't race just commute to work and take long rides. Price range would be helpful also.

Spoke breakage usually occurs due to fatigue. Like bending a paper clip. You might be better off with another well built wheel that is at least hand finished to take care of spoke alignment and stress relieving. However, your existing wheel could be rebuilt with quality double butted spokes and the same procedure of spoke alignment, tesnion balacning, and stress relieving could also get the job done.
What rim are you using?
What spoking pattern? .... and how many spokes per wheel?

Quoted message said:

I don't know a lot about bikes. Well I bought a new bike
and road it for almost a year. Then I broke my first
spoke. That was about 3 weeks ago. Well on the way to work
today I broke another one. I was wandering if this is
normal? I commute everyday to work and hate sending it to
a shop because it takes to long to get it back especially
when you commuted every day to work. Should I get it fixed
again? Did the bike shop that I take it do a bad job
replacing the old spoke? Should I by a new rim. Any
suggestions if I do buy a new one. I just want something
that can handle some rough road. Weight doesn't matter
that much. I don't race just commute to work and take long
rides. Price range would be helpful also.

Most likely your spokes are at their maximum fatigue length
due to improper stress relieving. The shop most likely
replaced the spoke just fine, however the other spokes are
near the of their life cycle as well. My guess is you have
straight gauge spokes (not doubled butted). Either get the
wheel rebuilt properely or buy a new one. I'd just buy a new
one and use the other one as a backup. As many people will
tell you, get it stress relieved if you buy a factory
produced wheel.

David

bcsst26 said:

I don't know a lot about bikes. Well I bought a new bike
and road it for almost a year. Then I broke my first
spoke. That was about 3 weeks ago. Well on the way to work
today I broke another one. I was wandering if this is
normal? I commute everyday to work and hate sending it to
a shop because it takes to long to get it back especially
when you commuted every day to work. Should I get it fixed
again? Did the bike shop that I take it do a bad job
replacing the old spoke? Should I by a new rim. Any
suggestions if I do buy a new one. I just want something
that can handle some rough road. Weight doesn't matter
that much. I don't race just commute to work and take long
rides. Price range would be helpful also.

Need more info. Rear wheel? drive side? Type of bike? Weight
load? Breaking at elbow?

Try plucking the spokes. Spokes on one side should all
have nearly the same musical pitch. If not, spoke tension
is uneven.

Sounds like a poorly built (probably machine built) wheel.
Depending on the quality of the hub and rim, it might be
worth re-building with all new spokes (replace one at a time
to ensure that the hub is laced the same as it was
originally).

Art Harris

It is a specialized allez. The rims are alexrims. I am pretty sure they aren't very good rims. I only have 1300 miles on them. The spoke broke on the rear wheel. They are breaking at the elbow. I think this one is opposite of the drive. I weight about 200 lbs and with my pack and bike I would say the load is closer to 230-250. As for the spoke number I am not sure. I am not sure of the other things either since I am at work and can't look at my bike. I am thinking of just buying a better rim. I don't think mine rims are good enough to get rebuilt. Is it cheaper anyways to buy new? Any suggestions on types and pricing of them? I would like something that would last longer if possible. I don't care to much about weight.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by bcsst26
It is a specialized allez. The rims are alexrims. I am pretty sure they aren't very good rims. I only have 1300 miles on them. The spoke broke on the rear wheel. They are breaking at the elbow. I think this one is opposite of the drive. I weight about 200 lbs and with my pack and bike I would say the load is closer to 230-250. As for the spoke number I am not sure. I am not sure of the other things either since I am at work and can't look at my bike. I am thinking of just buying a better rim. I don't think mine rims are good enough to get rebuilt. Is it cheaper anyways to buy new? Any suggestions on types and pricing of them? I would like something that would last longer if possible. I don't care to much about weight.

What size tires do you use?
What size tire will the frame handle?
If you are running 23 or 25 mm you might want to go to 28 or 32 mm if your frame can handle them. Wider tires work better on wider rims. Wider tires tend to last longer and absorb more shock. The rim you use is dependent on the tire you will use.
Ritchey Trekking and Bontrager Fairlane both have Offset Spoke Beds avaialble for a rear wheel build. If you are going to a new rear wheel, I would suggest either of these.
The quality of the build is the biggest issue for a durable wheel.

what brand were the spokes?

suggest rebuild with good quality name brand like sapim or
d.t. much better reliability.

bcsst26 said:

I don't know a lot about bikes. Well I bought a new bike
and road it for almost a year. Then I broke my first
spoke. That was about 3 weeks ago. Well on the way to work
today I broke another one. I was wandering if this is
normal? I commute everyday to work and hate sending it to
a shop because it takes to long to get it back especially
when you commuted every day to work. Should I get it fixed
again? Did the bike shop that I take it do a bad job
replacing the old spoke? Should I by a new rim. Any
suggestions if I do buy a new one. I just want something
that can handle some rough road. Weight doesn't matter
that much. I don't race just commute to work and take long
rides. Price range would be helpful also.

--

Buy a spare bike, or a spare wheel. A spare bike needn't be
very costly. You may find in addition that you prefer your
cheap bike.
--
Ron Hardin [email hidden]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Thanks for the help. If I remove the spoke and do a quick fix on the wheel will it hurt the rim or put me in danger. I was just thinking that I would straighten it out the best I could and ride it until more spokes break. Suggestions on this? Thanks in advance.

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 12:43:41 GMT, bcsst26

may have said:

I don't know a lot about bikes. Well I bought a new bike
and road it for almost a year. Then I broke my first spoke.
That was about 3 weeks ago. Well on the way to work today I
broke another one. I was wandering if this is normal? I
commute everyday to work and hate sending it to a shop
because it takes to long to get it back especially when you
commuted every day to work. Should I get it fixed again?
Did the bike shop that I take it do a bad job replacing the
old spoke? Should I by a new rim. Any suggestions if I do
buy a new one. I just want something that can handle some
rough road. Weight doesn't matter that much. I don't race
just commute to work and take long rides. Price range would
be helpful also.

A Must Read article:

sheldonbrown.comwheelbuild.htmlOpen ↗

Pay particular attention to the section on Stress Relieving.
I suspect that this is the step which was neglected with
your current wheels.

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Quoted message said:

Thanks for the help. If I remove the spoke and do a quick
fix on the wheel will it hurt the rim or put me in danger.
I was just thinking that I would straighten it out the
best I could and ride it until more spokes break.
Suggestions on this? Thanks in advance.

ouch! don't do that! i got sympathetic road rash just
READING that!

hg

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 16:23:19 GMT, bcsst26

may have said:

Thanks for the help. If I remove the spoke and do a quick
fix on the wheel will it hurt the rim or put me in danger.
I was just thinking that I would straighten it out the best
I could and ride it until more spokes break. Suggestions on
this? Thanks in advance.

Your mileage may vary, but...

If this is a low-spoke-count wheel, like a 20 or 24-spoke,
I'd get it respoked properly and completely. In my case, I'd
do it myself. It's not rocket science, really.

If it's a 32 or 36-spoke wheel, I'd try one intermediate
step first. I'd replace the broken spoke, closely inspect
the remaining ones for signs of trouble and replace any that
seem suspicious, and then stress-relieve *all* of them. Even
at this late date, with a year of usage, it's been my
(admittedly limited) experience that this can keep a wheel
in service. An embarassing number of years ago, I had a
wheel that broke three spokes for no obvious reason in a
period of a few months riding loaded on a paper route. After
the third spoke let go, I took the wheel with me to the lbs
to ask the guy there what I should
do. He showed me how to use a lever to "prestretch all the
spokes", after truing the wheel, and I did so. That
bike went another 33 years on those spokes. (The *rim*
didn't; it rotted and had to be replaced, but most of
the spokes survived to the next one.) I didn't know
until much later that what he called "prestretching"
was really stress-relieving. (In fact, I didn't even
recall the incident until this past couple of years,
when someone else's question prompted it.)

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

I sympathize. Before I understood what makes bicycle wheels,
I went through this routine many times, and it is indeed
very frustrating.

Take some time to learn how to build bike wheels. It
really will save you a lot of stress, especially if you
cycle-commute.

If you properly tension and then stress relieve the
spokes, they will probably go a long, long way without
breaking. To stress relieve, squeeze pairs of parallel
spokes together, hard.

I'm leaving a lot out here. Do read Sheldon's wheelbuilding
article and "The Bicycle Wheel" by Jobst Brandt.

For the quick fix, you might tell us where you live, and
someone here can likely suggest a good bike shop nearby, one
that really can fix your wheel (if it's fixable).

-Bruce-

"bcsst26" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thanks for the help. If I remove the spoke and do a quick
fix on the wheel will it hurt the rim or put me in danger.
I was just thinking that I would straighten it out the
best I could and ride it until more spokes break.
Suggestions on this? Thanks in advance.

--

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 14:52:30 GMT, Ron Hardin <[email hidden]>

may have said:

Buy a spare bike, or a spare wheel. A spare bike needn't be
very costly. You may find in addition that you prefer your
cheap bike.

Presumably something better than a Roadmaster Mt Fury,
however. (That model is not the absolute worst I've seen,
but it does a pretty good job of trying to get there.)

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Werehatrack said:

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 14:52:30 GMT, Ron Hardin

may have said:

Buy a spare bike, or a spare wheel. A spare bike needn't
be very costly. You may find in addition that you prefer
your cheap bike.

Presumably something better than a Roadmaster Mt Fury,
however. (That model is not the absolute worst I've seen,
but it does a pretty good job of trying to get there.)

Maybe the reason we haven't heard from Carl Fogel is because
his Roadmaster Mt Fury fell apart under him at high speed in
heavy traffic...
--
Rick Onanian

bcest-<< I don't know a lot about bikes. Well I bought a new
bike and road it for almost a year. Then I broke my first
spoke. That was about 3 weeks ago. Well on the way to work
today I broke another one. I was wandering if this is
normal? >><BR><BR>

Not normal but after a year, a sign that the rim has been
'damaged' to the point of erratric tension somewhere...A new
rim/spokes(maybe) is the solution.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali
costruite eccezionalmente bene"