Introductions - Hello from a frustrated biker

Hi,

I am retired and living on Hilton Head Island, SC. In the last couple of years I have rediscovered biking as a means of getting some exercise and Hilton Head is a wonderful place to do it.

I have a very simple bike, a Caloi Pan-Am. Single Speed, Coaster Brakes. It works fine for me since there are almost no hills in the area. I'm a pretty big guy, 6 ft. and about 225 lbs.

The problem I am having is that I keep breaking spokes on my rear wheel. I had no trouble for the first year but lately I have been breaking spokes about every 100 miles. That is about every 8 trips for me and it is taking most of the fun out of it. This has happened both when going over small bumps and in smooth level areas.

We have a few bike shops around here to choose from but they are mostly interested in renting bikes to tourists and I have not been pleased with the answers that I have gotten. One didn't seem surprised that my spokes were breaking that often, another suggested that I may want to get a heavy-duty rear wheel for my bike.

The shop where I bought the bike assures me that the problem is not with the bike, that it is a quality product.

I'm off to do a search on "broken spoke" to see what I can find here. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi from mass. I vacation and bike on Hilton Head Island every spring, I think it's a great place to ride. The problem you are having with your wheel is probably related to uneven spoke tension then anything else. I'm assuming you have an aluminum rim and stainless steel spokes, if so, find a quality bike shop and have your wheel loosened, dished, trued and properly and evenly tensioned. If you do that and the rim isn't bent you will have no more problems. If the rim is bent, the shop is probably truing the wheel using greater tension in the area of the bend to get the wheel straight. This condition is prone to breaking the over tight spokes because they are doing all the work for you. Good luck.

Thanks for your reply mrfix. I hope I have found a quality bike shop. We decided that we would replace the rear wheel. I asked the guy if it was difficult to tell if the rim was bent and his reply was that if I was repeatedly breaking spokes, then the rim was bent. That sounded logical to me.

In the meantime I will riding my wife's bike. Thanks again for your help.

Try loosing a few pounds. :thumbup:

Originally posted by Wait
Try loosing a few pounds. :thumbup:

Wait does not know what he is talking about!!!! Nor any of your personal specifications.

Weight has nothing to do with spoke breakage. There are plenty of forum riders that weigh much, much more than you, and do not have spoke problems.

http://www.oscars-r-us.com/images/smiles/icon_redface.gif

:beer:

Originally posted by Wait
Try loosing a few pounds. :thumbup:

Hey Sigsky,

Don't pay any attention to this clod. He obviously doesn't know what he's talking about.

Welcome to the forums - not all of us are like Wait !

Justen

Justen, please look at hte above posts WAIT already apolgised and I don't think he meant it that way to begin with.

Yeah...I' m sorry about that. I just saw his apology and posted too quickly. Sorry Wait !

Justen

I think this thread is a good example of the true feelings of the membership of this forum.

I am proud to be include in such a fine group of people, Ladies and gentlemen all.

I also think that this is also the nature of cyclist in general and one of the reason it is such a wonderful endeavor.

Didja say Hilton Head, SC? I'm guessing, that the spokes were NOT stainless, and corrosion played a major part of prematurely weakening the spokes.

I'm down in Sarasota, FL, right on the coast, and we get a lot of bikes that match your description in our shop. Even though the bike has never been in the salt water, there is enough salt in the AIR to destroy exposed metal parts. Supposidly, salt (sodium chloride) atoms can be carried by the wind (light breeze) for up to 2 miles inland. It really plays havoc with a lot of things, not just bikes, but building materials as well.

Galvanized stuff is a joke! It's either got to be stainless, or aluminum. Aluminum corrodes as well, but that's a different story!

Good luck and hope you get it fixed.

L8R

Thanks for your reply. Actually the spokes are stainless steel and I'm almost certain that the rim is aluminum. The new wheel that I am getting will be the same.

lol... Looks like my suggestion has started me off on a bad foot.

hey man as a wicked wheel builder what i sugest is to get somone to "sex" your spokes. i used to do this for taddam bikes with high end wheels for extra strengh (twist your spokes together) i creates a near bomb proof wheel but you will notice the bumps quite a bit more, its cool to hear of somone riding a caloi i was going to pick them up as a sponser when i lived in ontario good luck
:beer:

Wow! Maybe someone could explain to me what auger said. I think you could get seriously messed up around here by asking someone to "sex" your spokes. I know I'm not going to do it.

What I am going to do is be very careful with my new wheel and go over the bumps very gently.

well then you should move if you ever have a problem with a bike mech sexing your spokes dont let him touch your wheels cause he doesnt know much about wheels and is not a qualified wheelsmith(sexing is a trick biking term meaning to twist your spokes together some hate it some love it i personaly think it looks cool and is functional i bet if it was anodized purple and looked like bar ends you would know what it was sigsky

and that is a joke dude please dont get mad i know i dont know you and whatnot it is a joke....... do you have anodized purple bar ends?

That's OK auger, I have a thick skin and I didn't understand that one either. :)