Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Can spokes go "soft" ????? (Shimano WH-7801)

Hiya,

Just after the TdU Community Challenge (a ride following the Tour Down Under in Adelaide), my rear wheel started "creaking" when hauling my arse up hills. It got worse over a week or two, so I took it to a shop to get the spoke tension checked to see if that was the problem.

When I picked up the wheel, they mentioned that the spokes would not hold tension, and therefore believed that the spokes had gone "soft". Shimano had none in stock (how good of them), and at $5 a pop, I was a bit glad. They said that it should be a couple of weeks, but they will keep following up, and sent me on my way with no charge.

The mechanic at the LBS that I took it to is a racer and has some credibility, but I'm a bit suspect about this spokes going soft issue.

Below is the tech doc from Shimano for reference.


WH-7801 Rear Wheel Tech Doc (http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/EV/actionsports/WH/EV-WH-7801-R-2516_v1_m56577569830608638.pdf)

My overall question is :

1 - Can spokes go "soft" ?
2 - Is there another way of getting replacement spokes, or is Shimano my only option ?
3 - Should I just sell them and build up my own ?

Wheels have covered 5,000km, been looked after well, and have had no issues. I'm no slim jim, but at 95kg, I'm not super fat either.

Any comments/feedback/suggestions ?

Cheers

Michael B

I have certainly never heard of spokes 'going soft,' or failing to hold tension on the truing stand.

It is possible, however, that your spokes are fatigued and have reached the end of their useful life. If this is the case it will still be possible to tension them, but they will start breaking soon while you are riding. Metal will only stretch a certain amount before breaking... it's not like melted cheese that will stretch and stretch and stretch as far as you can pull it.

You should be riding on a higher spoke-count wheel, IMHO.

Edit: Also - check the spoke holes in the rim (and hub, I guess) very closely for cracks... your description of a creaking sound and quickly losing spoke tension reminds me of a time when my rim was cracked circumfrentially where the brake pads had worn through.

Good luck!

Hiya,

The wheels are the ones that came with the bike, so hence the reason why I have them.

On my previous bike, a Lemond Tourmalet, it was fitted with Bontrager Select wheels and I had no problem in almost 8,000km.

One of the options is to sell the wheels on and build up a pair of my own, but then comes the inevitable argument of what rims/spokes and hubs ?

Any suggestions ?

I don't think that spokes can go "soft" any more than a frame goes soft but there are many people out there that believe that this happens. When a spoke is fatigued it breaks, up until that happens it is a good spoke.
What I think could be plausible is that the threads on a spoke could be damaged or the nipple could easily become ovalized if someone was trying to tension them with a spoke wrench that didn't fit tightly. In either case, when you got the tension up to where you wanted it the nipple could slip as there was not enough thread contact.

Thanks andymac,

Don't think that incorrect tools were used, as these wheels were only tured for the first time prior to the TdU ride, and I saw the tools used (even had the proper tool used to stop the spoke twisting).
There is no damage to the spoke nipples.

These are the u-beaut Shimano straight pull ones - can I get non-shimano replacements ?

Cheers

Michael B

Hiya,

The wheels are the ones that came with the bike, so hence the reason why I have them.

On my previous bike, a Lemond Tourmalet, it was fitted with Bontrager Select wheels and I had no problem in almost 8,000km.

One of the options is to sell the wheels on and build up a pair of my own, but then comes the inevitable argument of what rims/spokes and hubs ?

Any suggestions ?

Borrow your Dad's Viagra, crush the pill, mix with vaseline, and apply it to the "soft spokes." If that doesn't work... you're gonna have to get some new wheels.

Borrow your Dad's Viagra, crush the pill, mix with vaseline, and apply it to the "soft spokes." If that doesn't work... you're gonna have to get some new wheels.

:eek::eek::twitchy::twitchy:

I don't know if he uses it and I don't wanna know.

Maybe I should carbon wrap them, would that work ????

Maybe you've got crack around your nipples!:D Around the spokeholes of the rim.

I would think if the spokes can't hold tension, they are going to break. Either the spoke is twisting or stretching and either of those will weaken the metal. I am not a bike mechanic and I haven't run into anything like what you are saying. I have done some metal tests and have seen metal stretch before breaking before we took it to our manufacturing floor. The wire hadn't gotten to the proper tensil strength and we couldn't straighten the wire without causing some rotation problems.