Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - WTF happened to my spokes?

So I'm sitting here surfing the net and working on my bike. I have a nice new 16t DuraAce cog to put on. I get the lockring off, use the Rotafix method to pull off the cog, and notice something...

Three of my spokes have metal scraped off of them and are bent. WTF? This had to have happened awhile ago. I just had the wheel trued last weekend, and it's still true. So it had to have been before that. I'm guessing that these spokes are the reason that it went out. I'm like 150-160lbs, and they're 36 spoke wheels.

I guess that I'm not putting the new cog on, since I'm going to need to replace those three spokes. I also don't want to ride with the drive side stresses being on bent spokes...

Anyways, here's what it looks like:

http://www.werstnet.com/site_images/BikeForumsPics/Bent_Spokes.jpg

have you ever skipped yer chain off, towards the hub?
that's all i can think of right now...

Not since I got this wheelset. That was my first thought, too...

It looks like something whacked them.
Another bike dropped into them...

Thing is, they were behind the cog, where they couldn't have been really touched by anything... The bends are about 1/4" inside of the outer teeth of the cog...

could you or someone else have whanged them with a slippery chain whip or lockring spanner?

also, it looks like there might be rust or some other corrosion where the bends are... yes?

Thing is, they were behind the cog, where they couldn't have been really touched by anything... The bends are about 1/4" inside of the outer teeth of the cog...

so maybe the spokes were pressed up against the cog...someone torqued the rim or something

Are you the original owner of this wheel set?
If not maybe the previous person popped the chain into the spokes.

You said you just had it trued, did you get it back that way when it was off
the bike?



or was it the bike faeries again? they let the air out of my tires.

No corrosion, but there's a little grease. I use 3-in-1 oil, so my chain is usually smooth, silent and grimy as hell. I guess it's possible that I hit them with the chain putting the cog on. I use the rotafix method since I snapped a chainwhip, seems safer and less likely to have sudden slippage...

They don't look like they're in danger of breaking, do they? I have a ride tonight and about 1.5mm of clearance on either side of my chainstays. If I break a spoke, I'm probably going to be stranded in the middle of nowhere drunk at 2am or something... Hopefully they're OK since I think that I've been riding them like this for awhile...

CPcyclist - I'm the original owner of the wheelset. It's possible that I threw a chain, but I don't remember it.

Kirke - since it's still true, I'm guessing it was like that before and after I took it in. It was a quick job, he did it while I was waiting, and probably didn't look at the spokes that close. It's pretty hard to see unless the cog on that side is off.

No corrosion, but there's a little grease. I use 3-in-1 oil, so my chain is usually smooth, silent and grimy as hell. I guess it's possible that I hit them with the chain putting the cog on. I use the rotafix method since I snapped a chainwhip, seems safer and less likely to have sudden slippage...

They don't look like they're in danger of breaking, do they? I have a ride tonight and about 1.5mm of clearance on either side of my chainstays. If I break a spoke, I'm probably going to be stranded in the middle of nowhere drunk at 2am or something... Hopefully they're OK since I think that I've been riding them like this for awhile...

i was gonna say if there's corrosion, it probably means they've been like that for a while and there's nothing to worry about...
what happened when you snapped yer chain whip? could that have done it?

regardless, it doesn't look like it needs an urgent fix...
also, looks like yer spoke count is high enough that if one does break you can just take it out and still be able to get where you need to go...

I snapped the chainwhip on my last wheel - I wasn't able to get my 14t off, that's when I started using the rotafix. I'm probably going to take it in next weekend. One of the wrenches at my favorite LBS where I bought the wheel might be out on the ride tonight - I'll have him take a look at it. Actually, he's the one that did the truing, and he usually doesn't charge for labor... I wonder if I can get this fixed for the cost of the spokes? Of course, I'd probably have to buy him more than the shot and beer I paid for straightening my fork and truing the wheel... :rolleyes:

Considering that some people deliberately twist their spokes, I think you are alright.

But they twist them in the middle - my rear on my MTB is like that. All of the spokes go into the hub at straight angles, even though the centers are twisted...

that looks like classic chain-suck damage, but prolly not done while riding, or it would have gotten more spokes.

Perhaps- the doubled-over part of the chain damaged these spokes during your Rotafix? Were you conscious of keeping the the links "stacked nicely" when applying torque?

I've seen people ride without problems after noticing this type of spoke damage (damage to a larger degree)... As long as you keep the wheel otherwise maintained.

Is it a flip flop hub? Coulda come from careless flipping over and the chain going the wrong way off the cog?