VA_Dave

I'm currently using a pretty much stock '05 Diamondback Response hardtail as my commuter. I put about 100 miles a week on it, all pavement. Two months ago I broke a spoke, so I brought it to the LBS and paid $70 to have the wheel rebuilt. I asked them if this was to be expected because it's a relatively inexpensive bike, and the mechanic assured me that the rims and hubs were fine, and now that he put on better spokes I shouldn't have a problem.

Today I broke another one. I'm 6'4", 210lbs, so I guess I'm putting a bit more strain on the bike than most, but it's not like I'm bouncing over roots and rocks and stuff. Am I being unreasonable thinking these things shouldn't break this often?

I'll be bringing it back in tomorrow and I just want to get some opinions. I don't want to blame the shop for something that's not their fault, but I just think I should get more than two months out of a $70 repair bill.

waterrockets 

May have been a bad spoke. I built the perfect wheel one time and broke a spoke when it was only 3 weeks old. I replaced it and have had no problems now for 18 months of hard riding.

When you get the new spoke, pluck around the same side of the wheel and make sure they all have the same tone, then do the same for the other side. On the front wheel, both sides should sound the same. The same tone reflects even tension around the wheel, which is very important.

DannoXYZ 

Did you replace ALL of the spokes or just the broken one? I assume that the 2nd broken spoke was a different one right? Did it break in the same place, perhaps at the bend by the head?

If so, you may have wheels that were under-tensioned in the beginning (most stock wheels are). This causes the spokes to undergo a wider range of tension-changes as they rotate through the unloaded zone at the bottom. This causes much more rapid fatigue-wear and shortened lifespan. If this is the case, you must replace ALL of the spokes with new ones as they'll be snapping continuously until you've replaced them all.

Re-reading your post sounds like all the spokes where replaced. I suspect this was on the rear wheel? Were both the broken spokes on the drive side or non-drive side? There may be some issues with excessive wheel-dishing. Or the spokes may be incorrectly laced into the rim-holes and are undergoing an S-bend. Or it could be the hub has a bad flange-shape. Lots of variables...

operator

I don't think you can really generalize on stock wheels. I've seen undertension, uneven tension and over tension out of the box.

VA_Dave

Egads! You ain't kidding!

I don't have any information regarding the previous spoke, but the recent broken one is on the non-drivetrain side. Both were on the rear wheel. A coworker who is far more knowledgeable than I in these matters was surprised that the LBS didn't have me come back a month later for a spoke checkup.

Using waterrockets' advice and a pair of pliers, I was able to get the wheel to spin pretty straight last night so I rode it to work this morning without issue. I'm starting to think that for what I'll pay to have the wheel fixed *again* I can buy almost all of the tools I need to fix it myself. Give a man a fish....

The funniest thing is that our car pretty much died at the beginning of the week. "No problem, I bike to work anyways...."

EDIT: Forgot to mention that both broken spokes were indeed at the bend by the head.

cat0020

Detension the whole wheel prior to replacing the broken spoke and re-tension the whole wheel evenly could solve your problem.. though time consiming.. but it's good practice.

San Rensho 

Take it back to the shop. They probably undertensioned the wheel, but in any case thay are responsible for it since they re-laced your wheel.

DannoXYZ 

What kind of hub? It's not worth re-building a wheel on a crappy hub. And if the wheel was indeed rebuilt with all new spokes, care has to be taken to orient the spokes in the same direction as before so they lay down in the grooves cut by the original spokes.

VA_Dave

It was a shimano 32h, but I can't remember the part number. Here's the specs from Diamondback, but they're not too detailed. I took it back to the LBS this afternoon and got mixed feelings from the mechanic. He's going to try just replacing the single broken spoke, but he mentioned a new wheel more than once. I mentioned that I may be interested in a 36h wheel and I have a feeling I'll have one by the time I go to pick it up.

VA_Dave

Maybe it's unnecessary, but I kinda feel like an ass for not thanking everyone for the advice.

Thanks!
*next round's on me*

twiz

I'm also around 200. 36h wheels are the way to go