Broken spoke AGAIN!

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by redir

Unbelievable! I've been one to break spokes. In fact I call my self the king of broken spokes. But this is the third one in as many weeks on 3 different wheels. I posted last week about my hub blowing apart, that was 3 spokes technically. The week before that I broke one on a 32 hole Durace/Open Pro wheel and then on this mornings commute, perfectly flat and smooth section of the bike path just cruising along and ping! Broken spoke on a 32 hole Ultegra Open Pro wheel.

I hope all bad things come in 3's. I just don't get it.

</rant>

You break spokes cuz the tension in the wheel is uneven, erratic..mostly because either the wheel was undertensioned, then ridden or you wacked the rim somewhere that reduced tension there..think metal coat hanger and back-forth-back-forth, till it breaks. You can try to re-tension but if the tension is wild or you end up with a big flat spot-new rim..

Once you have a few spokes break you can bet that the rest will follow. I'd rebuild the wheel with fresh spokes and forget about it.

Probably not the spokes..

[redir]

I take that back... On the Dura-Ace wheel it was the drive side, on the Ultegra wheel it was non drive side.

Having looked at the Dura-Ace wheel I can see that at some point I must have thrown the chain over the lowest (largest) cog and into the spokes as the outside flange spokes were all chewed up. That's right wear the spoke broke so my guess is that's the problem.

So I figure lets do an experiment, I sanded out the burs on the chewed up spokes and stuck another spoke of the proper length in there and also in the Ultegra wheel and trued them both up. Rode the Dura-Ace wheel into work this morn.

I will mark it on my calendar and we'll see how long they last

I know rebuilding is the right thing to do but I got to get the house painted, the car fixed, and a new lawn mower. So some things have to wait

[Hindmost]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

...uneven... undertensioned...


Probably not the spokes..

I built a lot of wheels untrained and based on "feel." Riding them for a number of years I learn this lesson the hard way. (Well, it was before the internet.) Using a spoke tension gauge--something I used to think unnecessary--is a game changer.