DennisC

My biking buddy has a problem breaking rear wheel spokes, several spokes in a matter of about 100-200 Km riding. All the spokes were replaced with "heavy duty" spokes and the problem still occurs.
What might be causing this? Are there any common problems that we should look for first. The local bike shop simply says "put on a new wheel". Are there any other options?

Kotts

It would help to know some details:

• What kind of riding?
• Where on the wheel? (Drive side [where the gears are] vs. non-drive side)
• What kind of wheel? (How many spokes, what kind of hub/rim/spokes, handbuilt, etc.)
• What kind of rider? (big, small, heavy, light, strong, weak)

In general:

• A poorly built wheel will break spokes.
• Rear wheel spokes will tend to break on the "Drive side" (more stress).
• Rough riding will break spokes.
• A large, heavy, or strong rider wil break spokes.
• A wheel built for lighter duty than it is subjected to will break spokes. (A 28 spoke rim on a tandem tourer.)

sivat

Good quality butted spokes will actually break less than the so called heavy-duty straight guage spokes. I think the 2.0/1.8/2.0mm spokes are probably best. This is assuming he is breaking spokes at the bend or the nipple.

clove

Dude should replace the rear wheel if he's breaking all those spokes. If you break multiple spokes on a wheel, the wheel is more often then not worn out.

VegasCyclist

good advice, if you ask me...

There are a lot of variables involved with wheels, why is the LBS suggesting to replace the wheel rather than rebuild/replace spokes? is it a very cheap wheel? what kind of riding are you doing? who built the wheel? is it tensioned correctly?

Retro Grouch 

Most spoke breakage is due to inadequate tension. Since the advent of 8-speed cassettes, the radically dished wheels require a lot of tension differential between the drive and non-drive sides. Unless the wheelbuilder is very careful, it's both easy and common to undertension the non-drive side. Almost all of the broken spokes that I've repaired have been on non-drive rear wheel spokes.

If you accept the above premise, think about what you've accomplished if you simply replace the broken spoke and retrue the wheel. All that you've done has been to return the wheel to the same condition that it was in before. What it was before was a wheel that was about to break a spoke.

Whenever I replace a broken spoke today, I check every spoke with my tensiometer. I bring them all up to even and adequate tension and then I true the wheel by tightening and loosening opposing pairs of spokes by an equal amount.

Al1943

Yes, usually on the non-driveside due to the big tension differential. The trick is to put as much tension on the driveside spokes as recommended by the rim manufacturer. Centering the rim on 8, 9, and 10-speed wheels requires that the non-driveside spokes have about 2/3rds as much tension as the driveside spokes. Loose spokes break due to repeated flex and metal fatigue in the "J" bend at the hub.

John E

Elongated, worn, or otherwise damaged spoke holes in the hub flange will break spokes prematurely. Whenever a wheel is relaced, the old lacing pattern should probably be copied for best reliability.