Originally Posted by
Mr. Beanz
Maybe a lousy mechanic? I've paid big bucks to
shop guys not willing to set the spokes at proper tension rather than just replacing and truing the wheel.
I'm not an uber clyde and have had this problem several times on all models.
It's ez but shop guys avoid the WORK. I think they are actually scrared to do it, unsure of their sklills.
If you are an uber and they don't properly service the new wheel, you're in for more of the same.
...They pulled that carp on me at 240.
Get some good tires like Specialized Armadillos. THey are heavy but super stiff and thick. I had them on our tandem, combined weight of over 400 lbs. No flat, no pinching. The suckers pretty much stand in the center of the room on their own. By far the toughest tire I've seen in my 13 years of riding. A little heavy if you're racing, but are you!
That's a little unfair...
If someone breaks a spoke, odds are that the other spokes are just about as weak as the one that broke. So you put a new spoke in the wheel and retension it. There's still a good chance another spoke is going to pop; the first one broke, didn't it? If you're a clyde and you break a spoke, just plan right there on getting a new, stronger wheel.
Also, the #1 reason for broken spokes that I've seen is people riding like lifeless lumps of putty. If you're a clyde and you just sit your arse on your bike and don't ever raise up off of the saddle, then yeah....you're going to break spokes.
Me, I'm 320 pounds and ride low spoke-count road wheels. I also had a set of Run RPMs from the late 90s....XC MTB wheels with "race only" light rims, and 2.0-1.5-2.0 spokes. I jumped with those wheels, I dropped off of things with those wheels. I've never broken a spoke in my life. Honestly, I fully believe that weight has less to do with spoke breakage than technique does.