broken spokes

saturnsc2 said:

i have a 27" huffy 10-speed bike. the wheels on it are about 10 years old & in excellent condition. i had them trued by a bike shop several times over the years. recently a spoke snapped on my front wheel. i had it replaced right away & trued up. the wheel was fine, then another spoke snapped on it. what the hell can be the problem? the wheel was repaired by a bike shop both times & seemed fine afterwards...

Do not forget when the first spoke breaks, all the other spokes suddenly have a different tension pattern! Also the rim structure goes out of line. If you only replace 1 or 2 spokes, you can expect these or the spokes next to them to break again. It is best to re-spoke the entire wheel and to replace the hub just in case the hub holes are damaged. It is possible to re-use the hub by mounting the spokes in the opposite direction (i.e. not in the direction of the ovalisation of the hub holes).

The rim may also be bent, causing further imbalance in spoke tension.
The fatigue in the spokes has caused it's damage and further broken spokes will likely continue.
Many people at this stage decide if it isn't just a good idea to replace the entire wheel

daveornee said:

saturnsc2 said:

i have a 27" huffy 10-speed bike. the wheels on it are about 10
years
old & in excellent condition. i had them trued by a bike shop
several
times over the years. recently a spoke snapped on my front wheel.
i
had it replaced right away & trued up. the wheel was fine, then
another spoke snapped on it. what the hell can be the problem?
the wheel was repaired by a bike shop both times & seemed fine
afterwards...

Do not forget when the first spoke breaks, all the other spokes
suddenly have a different tension pattern! Also the rim structure
goes out of line. If you only replace 1 or 2 spokes, you can expect
these or the spokes next to them to break again. It is best to
re-spoke the entire wheel and to replace the hub just in case the
hub holes are damaged. It is possible to re-use the hub by mounting
the spokes in the opposite direction (i.e. not in the direction of
the ovalisation of the hub holes).

The rim may also be bent, causing further imbalance in spoke
tension. The fatigue in the spokes has caused it's damage and
further broken spokes will likely continue.
Many people at this stage decide if it isn't just a good idea to
replace the entire wheel

The spokes in a front wheel are not supposed to break unless you ride
over a curb. Your spokes are probably suffering from metal fatigue.

saturnsc2 said:

i have a 27" huffy 10-speed bike. the wheels on it are about 10 years
old & in excellent condition. i had them trued by a bike shop several
times over the years. recently a spoke snapped on my front wheel. i
had it replaced right away & trued up. the wheel was fine, then
another spoke snapped on it. what the hell can be the problem? the
wheel was repaired by a bike shop both times & seemed fine
afterwards...

The spokes are suffering fatigue failures. It is probable that you will
have additional failures in the future. You have two options. One is
to have the wheel rebuilt by your local bike shop with all new spokes,
the other is to buy a new wheel (which may be cheaper). Actually, there
is a third option. You could get spokes from your LBS and rebuild the
wheel yourself. If you are careful, you should be able to do a pretty
good job of it.

Quoted message said:

The spokes in a front wheel are not supposed to break unless you ride
over a curb.

BAHAHAHAHAHHAAH!

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Any chance you have been storing the bike in a poor environment? Sounds like stress corrosion craking from storing near things like pool chemicals. Chloride ion induced stress corrosion cracking.

daveornee said:

Do not forget when the first spoke breaks, all the other spokes
suddenly have a different tension pattern! Also the rim structure goes
out of line. If you only replace 1 or 2 spokes, you can expect these or
the spokes next to them to break again. It is best to re-spoke the
entire wheel and to replace the hub just in case the hub holes are
damaged.

Are you saying that you would replace ALL spokes AND the hub because one
spoke broke after ten years?

Quoted message said:

It is possible to re-use the hub by mounting the spokes in the
opposite direction (i.e. not in the direction of the ovalisation of the
hub holes).

Why wouldn't you lace the spokes/hub in the same orientation as
originally? What you are suggesting would increase the likelihood of hub
flange failure.

Art Harris

Weisse Luft said:

Any chance you have been storing the bike in a poor environment? Sounds like stress corrosion cracking from storing near things like pool chemicals. Chloride ion induced stress corrosion cracking.

no i kept this bike in the basement since it was new. the wheel is in excellent condition--no corrosion anywhere. that's why i can't understand what is happening. i never had spokes on any bikes ever in my life break. i'm 41 years old & had many bikes in the past. the wheel was always serviced by a bike shop....

Do you do your laundry in the basement? Near a bottle of bleach? Chlorine bleach?

Chloride ion SCC is a problem with stainless. Fortunately it only happens with the ClO- ion at normal temperatures, otherwise our sweat would be then end of our spokes. Chlorine by itself only attaacks 18-8/300 series stainless steel at elevated temperatures. This family of stainless steels is found in most cycling components made of stainless steels, including spokes, cables and fasteners.

If you can rule out chlorine bleach (including pool chemicals like HTH, aka calcium hypochlorite) fumes, the reason for the failures is most probably fatigue. Replace as needed, no need to relace the entire wheel.

saturnsc2 said:

i have a 27" huffy 10-speed bike. the wheels on it are about 10 years old & in excellent condition. i had them trued by a bike shop several times over the years. recently a spoke snapped on my front wheel. i had it replaced right away & trued up. the wheel was fine, then another spoke snapped on it. what the hell can be the problem? the wheel was repaired by a bike shop both times & seemed fine afterwards...

One way to look at it is that you got 10 years of good service from an inexpensive bike. The front wheel may look good, but since it is breaking spokes, it is not. A likely explanation is that the wheel got whacked by a pothole or curb (happens to us all) and has a slight flat spot. For some unknown reason, your LBS could not or did not fix it; they just replaced the spoke and sent you on your way. The resulting very uneven spoke tension would result in broken spokes after a while. In fact it is possible to repair out of round rims, but it takes time and experience and would have cost you…possibly more than the wheel is worth. If I’m on the right track, the broken spokes will be close to each other. If not, then the wheel was poorly made to start with and your LBS did not make it better with their adjustments. Evenly tightened good spokes can last forever, but if some spokes are too lose, they will break.

Finally, I’ve got no idea about the quality of the spokes used by Huffy. They could be susceptible to fatigue because of their quality. But, then I would have expected you to have problems with the rear wheel first.

Unfortunately, buying parts and rebuilding it yourself is more costly than buying a new wheel. If you are so inclined wheel building is fun and not difficult. But, if you want to just get it fixed and ride, then buy a wheel and be done with it. You will need a 27 inch wheel or the brakes won’t line up. They are available but are far less common than the 700 size, so be sure you get the right one. Just to give you a rough idea of cost, Harris Cyclery on line sells a pair of 27 inch wheels for $100.

sheldonbrown.comwheels.htmlOpen ↗

Good luck,

Steve Shapiro

Harris said:

daveornee said:

Do not forget when the first spoke breaks, all the other spokes
suddenly have a different tension pattern! Also the rim structure goes
out of line. If you only replace 1 or 2 spokes, you can expect these or
the spokes next to them to break again. It is best to re-spoke the
entire wheel and to replace the hub just in case the hub holes are
damaged.

Are you saying that you would replace ALL spokes AND the hub because one
spoke broke after ten years?

No, but if you have experience with these types of bicycles (mass
market, low dollar), you know what is coming next. The wheels use low
grade materials for the spokes. The wheels aren't built right to begin
with. Couple the two and you end up seeing a lot of fatigue failures.
I've even seen this in good wheels. Break a spoke, replace spoke. Go
for a ride and you have another broken spoke. Later, rinse, repeat.
Spoke breakage due to a foreign object is one thing (stick in the
spokes). Random spoke breakage while "just riding along" suggests other
problems.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It is possible to re-use the hub by mounting the spokes in the
opposite direction (i.e. not in the direction of the ovalisation of the
hub holes).

Why wouldn't you lace the spokes/hub in the same orientation as
originally? What you are suggesting would increase the likelihood of hub
flange failure.

I would lace in the same direction.

Weisse Luft said:

Do you do your laundry in the basement? Near a bottle of bleach? Chlorine bleach?

Chloride ion SCC is a problem with stainless. Fortunately it only happens with the ClO- ion at normal temperatures, otherwise our sweat would be then end of our spokes. Chlorine by itself only attaacks 18-8/300 series stainless steel at elevated temperatures. This family of stainless steels is found in most cycling components made of stainless steels, including spokes, cables and fasteners.

If you can rule out chlorine bleach (including pool chemicals like HTH, aka calcium hypochlorite) fumes, the reason for the failures is most probably fatigue. Replace as needed, no need to relace the entire wheel.

it's kept in the laundry room away from the machine. other metal items there ain't corroded. i guess the spokes are just going to break from wear/age. i'll get it fixed & if it happens again, then i'll just replace the rim. the bike's in excellent condition, & i would hate to scrap it for just a stupid spoke...

saturnsc2 said:

it's kept in the laundry room away from the machine. other metal items there ain't corroded. i guess the spokes are just going to break from wear/age. i'll get it fixed & if it happens again, then i'll just replace the rim. the bike's in excellent condition, & i would hate to scrap it for just a stupid spoke...

Are the spokes stainless steel? You could try a magnet test but you would need to compare to a carbon steel spoke since 18-8 SS in the cold worked condition is slightly magnetic.

Cl ion induced SCC does not show as corrosion until far advanced. Its a nearly invisible malady of metals, especially highly worked metals like spoke elbows. In the advanced stages, the shiny surface becomes "frosted" but its still stainless steel grey. The spokes eventually become as brittle as uncooked dried pasta.

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

Quoted message said:

Are you saying that you would replace
ALL spokes AND the hub because one
spoke broke...?

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