knzn

Breaking spokes on my trek 1000 is becoming a trend. The stock 32 count Alexrims AT450 rims aren't up to my 240 lbs. I am thinking about shopping for a new wheel set rather than having all the spokes replaced with a bigger gauge. The Rocky Mountain Cyclrey Mavic A119 rims with Shimano XT M760 hub set and 36 DT 2.0 straight guage spokes at $159.00 for the set have my eye right now but I have just started shopping so any opinions are welcome.

Questions. I am mechanical and not affraid of changing out the cassette, but not sure of special tools needed or what else I will run into if I go this route.

Advise?
Thanks

Jeff Wills

I suspect that the original wheels were never properly tensioned. What you have should be adequate for your size, provided the spokes are tensioned high and even. Having the rear wheel rebuilt with all-new spokes by a competent wheelbuilder should give you years of service.

Here's a previous thread talking about the Alex wheelset:
https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/453406-ksyrium-equipes-vs-alex-450-a.html

LarDasse74

First - I fear the hub spacing might be too wide for your frame... this can be worked around, but why not buy something that fits right off the bat, right?

Second, having spokes properly tensioned is as important as what model rim or what gage of spoke you have. If you go for a 36 spoke wheel with a decent hub like a Shimano 105, and have it and keep it properly tensioned, you will get many many years of service out of them.

AEO

won't work. those are 135mm rear, 100mm front O.L.D. with 622x18mm rims.
18mm rim = 28mm wide tire minimum.

trek 1000 has 130mm rear, 100mm front and possibly not enough clearance for 28mm tires.
it's possible to respace the 135mm rear to 130mm, and redish the wheel but you'll have to cut the axle so it won't protrude from the dropouts.

knzn

First, thanks for the replys. Yes, since last fall it has been tensioned twice. Once right after I got it. and then after I broke spoke number one. Thats in about 500 miles since my ride time is shared with a couple of other bikes.

Comment about those other bikes. I don't know gauges, but my caliper tells me my other bikes have spokes measuring .80 in diameter. My trek measures .72----fwiw.

I would not have know the difference in hub width. Good information. Thank you.

dabac

At that weight you're beginning to push things a little, you can't expect anything to work.

Well, buying complete wheels can often be financially better than having existing stuff reworked. Still, there's no immediate guarantee that what you get will be substantially better than what you have.

It is rare to have spokes break due to overload, it's far more usually fatigue related. Going to bigger gauge is unlikely to be the cure you're looking for. The way to combat fatigue is by having the proper spoke tension.

But if your wheels were poorly tensioned to begin with, then replacing spokes one by one as they break may well turn into a long and frustrating process. Even if you've had the wheel tensioned properly after an earlier failure odds are high that spokes will continue breaking one by one as they approach their fatigue limit.
Whatever "imbalance" in remaining life that the initial botched tensioning caused can never be reset, only frozen - so a one-sided or a complete rebuild may be required.

Tension, tension and tension. You need a rear wheel with high and even spoke tension. At your weight it would be advisable to look for a wheel featuring one or several of the tricks available to even out tension(or the strain if you want to be picky) between the sides. 1.8 mm drive side spokes, and 1.5 mm non-drive is a tested favourite. 36H wouldn't be amiss, but not an absolute must. An off-center rim is another feature that'd tweak the odds of getting a durable wheel to your favour. If you don't like skinny spokes an OCR with 2.0 mm DS and 1.8 mm NDS is another nice combo. Radial spokes (laced heads-out) on the NDS can also improve things, either by itself or in combination with any of the other tweaks.

You need a chain whip and a splined tool bit for the lockring. A torque wrench or a certain experience can be helpful during reassembly.

AEO

don't forget the rim width.
the alex at450 are 18.5mm wide rims with 14mm internal width.
the mavic A119 rims are 22.5mm wide rims with 19mm internal width with minimum 28mm wide tires.

I'm not sure a trek 1000 can handle 700x28mm wide tires.

xerotope

I was having the same problem with the spokes on the rear wheel of my Trek 1000 (also Alex Rims, although I weigh in closer to 190 lbs). After the third spoke in two months, I replaced them all and rebuilt my wheel in the local bike co-op. I've now gone over a year without trouble.