spokes

[Kano]

Cuz he's still at it!

I read through it again, to see what was in here from last year (fun hunting for old stuff! remarkably easy too, as long as I remember to use the advanced search!) and anyway, he doesn't break spokes by dropping the chain into them -- he's good at not dropping the chain (now if he would just adjust the front derailleur so his bike isn't always makin nasty chain rubbing sounds!)

After he managed to flat his back tire on friday coming home from work, so he had to fix it before he could go for an early morning ride Saturday, (armadillos -- they're challenging to flat!) he broke another spoke while we were out on a group ride Saturday -- so had to fix it before Sunday's early morning ride. Now he's starting to get into this bike fixing thing, but this just isn't cool. Since we had the bikes on the car, and the LBS isn't too terribly off our route coming home Saturday, Let's go see what John has to say, eh, dear? He had to stop, get out of the car and inspect the wheel to believe that the spoke had broken -- why would I tell him it was if it wasn't, right? Anyway, he agreed to stop, and we brought a new wheel home.

It's "double walled" and has some different kind of spoke than the one that came standard on the bike did. Will a double-walled wheel help? It's not a fancy wheel, mind you, like some of our guys are riding, but it's not a fancy bike, either!

And would it make a difference if he would gear down a bit more on hills? That torque thing that was mentioned -- would it be better if he'd quit hammering up hills?

Karen in Boise

[DebW]

How many spokes in the old and new wheels? The number of spokes will make a difference, and the rider's style will make a difference. Definitely harder on spokes to hammer up hills in a high gear. Also easier on spokes if the rider gets off the saddle for bumps and potholes.

Double walled vs single walled rim shouldn't make a difference unless he was breaking spokes next to the rim, but that would be unusual. The old wheel could have been poorly made, with hub flange holes too big for the spokes. Or the rim could have been a little bent, causing unequal spoke tension.

Good luck with the new wheel.

[TxDoc]

My boyfriend had the same problem for a long time, and he is not a big guy at all (138lbs). He was breaking them on both sides though. At some point he was pretty annoyed and so he placed HED H3 wheels on all his bikes, and a zipp disc rear wheel on his tt bike. I'm quite sure there must be some other easier way to solve the problem, but the aero wheels worked for him.

[RoadRaven]

My partner (6'3", between 80-85kgs) was going through spokes on his Shimano 540s... brand new... and he was getting very frustrated.
He and the LBS decided it was the wheels, and he uses different wheels now and rarely has a broken spoke!
Could be the wheel itself... can he try a different one?

[SalsaMTB]

It sounds like the tension was not right on his wheel. It's important when you break a spoke to confirm the correct tension on all spokes after you replace the one. Was he using a spoke tensiometer when fixing the whee and confirm all spokes had the correct tension? Hopefully, the new wheel will be tensioned correctly and resolve his problem. If he does break one though, make sure he checks the tension all the way around!