A wheely good question

[crazycanuck]

Ok choice of title is a bit corny...Anywho, longish post.

Could you guys help me with a recent reocurring problem with my wheel? I'm clueless when it comes to this & any help is appreciated.

First, I have a 2004 Giant OCR1 & same wheels that came with the bike at the time.(i think)

A few weeks ago, as i pulled into my driveway, one of my back spokes popped. Ok, that was fine, took it to my fave bike shop & the guys fixed it. No problems whilst biking in all gears etc.

Today, I planned a ride with a friend round Kings Park to do some hills. Toodled in to the bike shop to borrow thier loo & headed off. About 10min down the road I heard something similar to a pop/twang. Thought nothing of it for a few min as it could have been anything. Then realized it was the back wheel. poeeoyyyyy..to be polite.

I walked back to the bike shop-about 1.5km, no big deal- and asked the gent(gent we trust) about having it fixed, fine ok.

Here are my two questions:

1-Since I bike about 200km+/week, would simply replacing the spoke be a good idea or a bad idea? How many more times would you allow it to happen before buying a new wheel or wheels?

It's by pure fluke that it's happened towards either the end or the beginning of my ride. I don't know about you but i'd rather not have this happen in the midst of one of my 50km rides where there's no public transport & ian's still at work with his bike.

2-What can you tell me about Mavic Alesium wheels? They're $399(Aus) a pair.

My dilemma is-we're planning on eventually visiting Canada sometime this year and the money would be well spent on a ticket but I also wonder if I need new wheels?


Help! Thanks guys

C

[DebW]

CC, I'll repeat for you what I told Lisa when she was having spoke problems. [No, you didn't miss it, we talked via PM.] On a normal, well-built wheel with the right specs, you shouldn't be breaking spokes in normal riding. A 250 lb guy who mashes gears could break spokes on a stock wheel, but most women shouldn't. If you've built your wheels on the hairy edge of superlightness, then it's possible. So if you've now broken two spokes, there is probably something wrong that you can find and fix. Here is what to look for:

(1) Spoke damage: I assume you've been breaking spokes on the drive side of the rear wheel, and this is the place to look. Take off the cassette and inspect the spokes for bends, knicks, and gouges. These would have been caused by dropping the chain inboard of the cassette or having some foreign object jam in there [dork disks prevent this kind of damage]. If you find spoke damage, these spokes are weak and will probably break eventually. Replace them now. If you can, inspect the 2 spokes that have already been replaced.

(2) Uneven spoke tension: The key to a strong wheel is even spoke tension. A new wheel should start with even tension, but as the wheel gets older and gets retrued over and over, it may end up with poor or uneven tension. This is especially true on a rim that is really beat up and perhaps slightly bent. If someone tries to true a somewhat bent rim, the only options are to put excessive tension on some of the spokes or to leave it less than true. The second option is better because the first option will cause spoke breakage (though replacing the rim is really best). When I worked in a shop and someone brought in a badly out-of-true rim, we would start by telling them "This rim may be bent. I can't tell until I try to true it. If it's bent, I recommend rebuilding it with a new rim. Or I can do the best I can with it, but you may start breaking spokes." If we started truing and found it bent, we would call the person to get permission to put on a new rim, or at least let them know to expect broken spokes. Today few mechanics rebuild wheels so you may not get the level of wheel service you used to. To check for even spoke tension, grab spokes in pairs and squeeze them together. Squeeze spokes all around the wheel to judge if some are much tighter than others (drive side will be much tighter than non-drive side normally, so compare on the same side). If you find one or two spokes that are very loose on a nearly-true rim or if you find a couple of extremely tight spokes, you know the rim is bent. If your mechanic returned the wheel to you this way, find a new mechanic.

(3) Hub problems are less likely, but spoke breakage right at the hub flange may indicate this.

There is nothing wrong with replacing spokes in a wheel. The wheel can be completely strong and true again with new spokes. You don't need to think about replacing the wheel because of that, but you need to know why it was breaking spokes. If the spokes were damaged, then replacing the damaged spokes will give you a perfectly strong wheel again. If spokes are breaking because of a bent rim, you need to replace the rim or the wheel (whichever is most cost-effective). If there is a problem with the hub that can't be fixed, you might as well replace the wheel.

Let us know what you find.

[crazycanuck]

HEy Deb

I can't answer either question as my bike is at the shop. I left it in good hands. I'll ask them about the information you've given me...

I take it from what you're saying, new wheels aren't necessary at the moment. Keeping my fingers crossed that the spoke doesn't pop when i'm 25km from home

c

[DebW]

Ask them if the spokes they replaced were damaged and if they checked the rest of the spokes for damage. Did you ever have the chain fall between the spokes and cassette, or have some road debris get stuck in there? If you know of no source of damage and they didn't find anything, then check spoke tension carefully when you get the bike home. Unless you find a cause for the spoke breakage, you can't really be at ease about it. But wheels aren't mysterious, just a hub, a rim, and properly tensioned spokes.

You might want to carry a fiberspoke for fixes on the road.

[crazycanuck]

Hey Deb,

First, thanks so much for your help.

A while back-a few months ago- I did manage to bike through a large piece of plastic that decided to get stuck somewhere in my cog & another area in the back. Nothing happened until 2 weeks ago though so it wasn't a huge concern.

The link you posted doesn't work. Can you tell me who normally sells them item mentioned? Would it take me forever to fix on my own?

Thanks again deb

c

[DebW]

Fiberfix spokes can be bought (among other places) from www.adventurecycling.org. Click on "store" and then "tools". I've bought a couple but haven't use one yet. They are supposed to work very well, and I'd guess would take 10-15 minutes to install on the road. They do come with good directions.

Hopefully you had two damaged spokes that have now been replace and you won't have any more trouble.