Bicycle Mechanics - Mavic Open Pro wheel losing tension

I've got Mavic Open Pro wheels that came on my Litespeed Blue Ridge. I've ridden that bike over 1,600 miles so far this year. This is my first good road/touring bike, was riding a mtb last year. My question is why is my rear wheel losing tension - at least that is what the lbs told me last time.

The wheel is making a "TWINGING" sound as I ride. If I am off the bike and roll it, no sound, but if I put my weight on the bike, the sound returns - no matter the speed. This is the third time this summer. First they just retensioned the lose spokes, that lasted about a week, then they took out all the tension and re-did it, that was in early July, now it's doing it again.

A little more background and ideas - sure, I'm heavy, about 240lbs, down 30lbs this year so I'm sure my weight has something to do with it. At first I had 35mm wide, 85psi tires on the bike which provided a smooth ride. I replaced them with 25mm tires at the end of June and then had the trouble with the rear wheel. I put the wider tires back on right after they fixed the wheel. On the 13th of August I put the 25's on again and now two weeks later I'm getting the problem with the rear wheel again.

Is this being caused by my weight and the 110psi narrow tires? Should I buy a stronger wheel for the rear? I believe the wheel currenlty has 32 spokes - should I buy a 40 spoke touring wheel that is built for heavy loads? If so, what is recommended? Or should I have the wheel completely rebuilt with new spokes and nipples by a professional? Or should I buy a spoke wrench and tension meter and learn to do it myself?

Mark

You have a few options. You could switch to a 36-spoke (or more) wheelset, put your wide tires back on (and sacrifice some speed), or you could have your current wheels rebuilt with brass nipples (that is, if they aren't already). The threads in the alloy nipples could possibly be stripping out.

i doubt he has stripped the threads...im personally cheap so ide just keep tightening them up. its not very hard to do. and if your losing weight rapidly, its more the reason to keep them on. just remember, clockwise loosens, counter clockwise tightens.

i doubt he has stripped the threads...im personally cheap so ide just keep tightening them up. its not very hard to do. and if your losing weight rapidly, its more the reason to keep them on. just remember, clockwise loosens, counter clockwise tightens.

He's got Open Pros on a Litespeed. I doubt he's cheap. Just tightening the spokes doesn't true the wheel either.

If you're going to spend the money on a Litespeed, you may as well make sure your wheels are =right= rather than just somewhat sort of close.

Your LBS may or may not be retensioning the wheel properly. They need to be equally tensioned and they need to have enough tension. After they tension it, pluck the spokes and listen to them. If they are all pretty much the same in pitch, they are equally tensioned. I can't really tell you how to tell if the spokes are tight enough if you don't have a tensionometer. I check by feel.

If you can't get them working consistently, you may need a 36 spoke wheel.

I stopped by a different bike store tonight on my ride and they checked the tension - the rear wheel spokes were down to 60 on the drive side and as low as 40 on some on the non-drive side. The front was around 80. This is exactly what happened the last two times. I'm going to drop off the wheels at this different shop tonight. I've bought some stuff here so they know me somewhat and offered to retension the rear for $25 and gave me a break on the front for another $10.

They went through the various reasons why this is happening and didn't blame it on the roads as much as the first shop did. They also explained how they would redo the wheel, unwind the spokes and tension up again. This shop has been there since I was a child (I'm 37 now) so hopefully they know what they're doing. And for only $35 it's worth a chance.

I was talking to another biker who recommended getting deep V rims. He said those are stronger and don't rely on just the spokes for strength. I mentioned looking at Mavic Ksyrium Elites which have good reviews but he wouldn't recommend them on Michigan roads because their too stiff and wouldn't hold up. Halfspeed mentioned 36 spoke wheels, which would you recommend? I'm just building up my knowledge base - for now I'll keep with the Open Pros.

Thanks for the responses.

Mark

I bought a spoke wrench on the way home tonight and did the job myself. 1/8 turn for each spoke plus where the wheel was slightly out of true, I did 1/8 increments on three spokes opposite to pull the rim back true using the brake as a guide.

Then I went for an 18 mile test ride - no more noise and the wheel stayed true.

I learned something today - don't be scared to try and learn something new. If I screwed it up, then I'd have a shop fix it. :)

Mark