A weird rear wheel ???

[SoCalSteve]

Hi all,

Im baffled...

I'm climbing a short steep hill, out of the saddle, really hammering hard and all of a sudden the bike comes to a complete stop. Turns out I knocked the rear wheel out of true enough for it to hit the chainstay and bring the bike to a halt.

Any clues, suggestions, opinions on why the rear wheel went out of true? I didnt hit a bump, didnt go over a rough patch, nothing!

Oh, btw, its a 32 spoke DT 14/15 laced to a DT rim and White Industry LTA hubs. Built by Mike Garcia. This is the same rear wheel that a few weeks back was making all kinds of noises. Turned out it was really detensioned and I tensioned all the spokes up evenly. It was perfectly true, the noise went away and I rode over 150 miles with no problems, until this.

Fortunatly it wasnt knocked so out of true that I couldnt get home (about 10 miles). I retrued the wheel and put it back on the Hors Cat. Rode it around the neighborhood, stood on the pedals, all seems fine.

I'm riding a Century next weekend. Should I worry about this wheel?

As always, thank you all in advance,

Steve

PS: If it matters, I am a big guy. 6' 5" and weigh about 240. Mike knew this when he built the wheelset.

[b3bicycles]

How old is the wheel and what type of rim?

[Needs Help]

dup

[Needs Help]

PS: If it matters, I am a big guy. 6' 5" and weigh about 240.
A 60cm Ottrott? How much seat top to handlebar drop can you tolerate?

[Fixed]

Bro use a different wheel or risk a ride in the broom wagon.Cheers

[wheels513]

There is a wheel man in Santa Ana who has a Villium truing jig ( most accurate truing stand in the world) his name is Bill and his company is called Sta-Tru.Bill builds wheels for wholesalers but he might help you out.
Frank

[SoCalSteve]

The wheel is under 1000 miles and the rim is a DT.

As for me owning a 60cm Ottrott and being 6' 5"....shouldnt the question be: How long is your inseam? The answer would be that I have a very short inseam and long torso, so a 60 x 62 is a great fit for me. Oh, the wheel in question is being used on my Hors Cat, not my Ottrott.

So, does anyone have any clues as to why this happened? Knowing that will probably help me to fix the problem.

I think I might use a different wheel for the Century.

Thanks again,

Steve

[TmcDet]

I would be for giving Mike Garcia a call tomorrow to see what he thinks might have happened. If the wheel has less than a 1000 miles on it and you have had this kind of problems then I bet you will continue to have problems unless something is done....I can't see retruing the wheel being a fix to the problem. I have had dealings with Mike and feel sure that he would want to know that a wheel that he built was having problems.

[raven]

I'll start with the most important: get a different wheel for the century. If you have invested your time, training and money into it, it would be sad to see you dnf just because of a mechanical. If you are switching out wheels, switch out the cogs as well, or atleast make sure they have the same amount of "wear" so the chain won't skip.

Now regarding the troublesome wheel. To explain what could have happened: (forgive me if I'm using the wrong terminology, it's been a while) the amount of force applied to the rear wheel had exceeded its elastic limit causing rim deformation. This act then caused the rim to "cold set" or become out of true. That being said, I would have to believe that the rim itself is no longer true. So, even though you might be able to true the wheel, the spokes will not be evenly tensioned and will further lead to trouble down the road.

If I could have one more bit of info: Am I correct in assuming that the wheel was more potato chip shaped and just not out of true in one spot (i.e. out of true on the opposite side as well)?

When I worked at a shop back in '96 we had a customer (about your size/weight) who would just destroy his rear wheels. We built him this ugly aluminum aero sectioned rim (cxp 30 ish) with 32 spokes, 14g, 3 cross- boat anchor of a wheel. He's still on it today...not one broken spoke.

Obviously, your wheel is a good build, suitable for most of your riding, with the exception of a high torque, low-gear steep climb. A possible solution: a taller profile/stiffer rim. I think you can get away with the 32 drill and same spokes.

[vaxn8r]

I would be for giving Mike Garcia a call tomorrow to see what he thinks might have happened. If the wheel has less than a 1000 miles on it and you have had this kind of problems then I bet you will continue to have problems unless something is done....I can't see retruing the wheel being a fix to the problem. I have had dealings with Mike and feel sure that he would want to know that a wheel that he built was having problems.
Second that.

[dirtdigger88]

yeah call mike

I have had DT rims for a while and these things are strong- mine are built with the same spoke and while we have different hubs (mine are kings) we both know your hub isnt the issue- I am going to guess you did the damage some time earlier and then it showed up while on the hill-

240 IS big- but its not HUGE- I have seen many a rider much bigger-

End result-

Call mike

Jason

[pale scotsman]

The Ottrott has vertical dropouts doesn't it? Don't know if a wheel will slip in those but possibly an under tightened or weak skewer can cause problems. I've had wheels slip in the dropout under power and come in contact with the chainstay. Not enough to make the wheel out of true... but it could happen.

[CalfeeFly]

I once had a wheel that we couldn't keep in true no matter what. It was rebuilt and the problem persisted. We decided it had to be tied to the rim although it was a Mavic rim. We switched rims and I never had another problem. Same builder, hub, spokes, nipples etc.

Just an idea. :bike:

[ThylacineCycles]

Hi all,

Im baffled...

I'm climbing a short steep hill, out of the saddle, really hammering hard and all of a sudden the bike comes to a complete stop. Turns out I knocked the rear wheel out of true enough for it to hit the chainstay and bring the bike to a halt....Oh, btw, its a 32 spoke DT 14/15 laced to a DT rim and White Industry LTA hubs. Built by Mike Garcia. This is the same rear wheel that a few weeks back was making all kinds of noises. Turned out it was really detensioned and I tensioned all the spokes up evenly. It was perfectly true, the noise went away and I rode over 150 miles with no problems, until this.

PS: If it matters, I am a big guy. 6' 5" and weigh about 240. Mike knew this when he built the wheelset.

Are you sure you didn't just not have the QR done up tight enough? :p

Hrm, inneresting problem. Don't think weight is an issue - wheels don't just go magically out of true because you're a big dude. My gut feeling says there might've been some spoke wind (where you think you're turing the nipple independantly but you're actually just twisting the spoke/nipple combo).

That's the only thing that springs to mind. I used to be 235 and I had a similar wheelset with few problems, although I do know what you mean by 'weird noises'. My wheelset (same spec as yours just with Tune hubs) sometimes makes that 'ping' noise like there's a broken spoke, yet it's perfectly true and fine. Only thing I can think of is it's the spokes moving where they cross through tensioning/detensioning, as it only happens when I'm out of the saddle and where the spokes cross they have worn into eachother somewhat.

Ah joy, the mystery of the wheel continues.

[Too Tall]

SoCalS - Others said the right stuff...I'll focus on riding style. You are powerful guy and leaning the bike hard right and nailing the downstroke esp. at low speed puts the most stress on your rear wheel it will ever get shy of "catchin' big air" sh-yahhhhhh :cool: ahem. Just an observation.

[marle]

I'm 6'3" 210 lbs and wacked a wheel like you did. I threw them out.

It has not happened to either my Mavic Ksyrium or custom wheels -- CXP33 32 spoke 2x DT240 hubs in the course of the last several thousand miles. It could be that you could use a CXP33 rim. But I'm not a wheel builder and can not make that call.

[SoCalSteve]

I have a feeling it was something like I had a loose skewer and I threw the wheel out of whack when it fell from the drop outs with high torque. Thinking back the wheel was not completely in the drop outs when I stopped.

My next step is to buy a tension meter and really see what is going on with the wheel.

Any other suggestions are always appreciated.

As always, thank you,

Steve