sean.fed

Well, was riding my Giant Seek 3 2015 and was around 6 miles away from my car at the local park which has an awesome walking/bike trail. I had just said hello to fellow bicyclist that were stopped and heard that nice little spring and pop on my back wheel. It immediately through the wheel out of true sadly and the tire was rubbing the frame were the spoke broke and I had to walk a good 4-6 miles back to my car. I am a bigger guy around the 375lbs+-, but was not expecting the spoke to break at all. I plan on get it repaired at my LBS but also was wondering if a better rear wheel or wheel-set would be an option. I would like to keep the same schwalbe Big Apple tires, with giants website saying 700x50 and on the tire it says 50-622 with 28-2.00 in parentheses on the tire. What would be a good recommendation on a new wheelset/rear wheel, how many spokes should I do and which hubs?

Thanks!

Willbird

I guess first things first is to get the broken spoke fixed, and have them go over the wheel and even up spoke tension.

My first road bike years ago was a Bianchi Premio....and I was 200 lbs or so and broke some spokes, the bike shop I bought it from relaced the rear wheel with single butted spokes and I never had another issue.

Learning to look over the spoke tensions on your own will be a big help, even if you just take it in and have them tweak it when it needs it.

they do make an "emergency spoke" that you can keep in your seat pack.......I have not gotten one yet, I should really.....you can search the following phrase, I think I saw them on Amazon

[h=2]FiberFix Emergency Kevlar Replacement Spokes[/h]

sean.fed

Interesting and not too bad in cost either. I am getting that replaced this weekend but will talk to them about building a better rear rim. Before I go on a ride I always do the ping test and see if one of the spokes doesn't sound like another. The spoke also broke off at the head on the hub and not at the brass nipple or in the middle so it may have just been over tightened from the get go. I do not do any curb hoping, maybe just riding in grass from time to time.

dr_lha

Spokes almost always break at J bend by the hub, almost never anywhere else. Spoke breakage is caused by fatigue, not by a sudden impact. That's why the break unexpectedly, and why they break at the bend (because that part gets flexed the most). The fact is that your spoke breakage is likely a sign of three things: a low quality wheel build (stock wheels on a $600 bike), probably substandard parts, combined with your weight. Get the wheel trued and tensioned good when you get it repaired, but accept the fact that you may need to upgrade to a better quality wheel with a higher spoke count to avoid breaking spokes in future.

I would recommend 36 spokes in the rear at least. For rims a Velocity Chukker or NoBS. For hubs something with a steel axle, Shimano probably.

chaadster

You could replace the wheelset, but we don't know what you have, so reccos would be a shot in the dark.

Another option would be to have your rear wheel completely relaced with high quality spokes. It may be the spokes spec'd were subpar, or the build quality may have stressed them improperly, as the broken one suggests.

It's not, however, unusual for spokes to break over time/miles, which may be a factor here as well.

CliffordK

It is probably similar to this bike.
Seek 3 (2015) | Giant Bicycles | United States

I would think that if it is a 2015 model, it should be under warranty, but that may only cover a new spokes and not a complete wheel rebuild.

It is easy enough to replace just about any spoke on the road except the right rear (and there are ways to do that too, such as using a Z-Bend spoke), and some people routinely carry spares.

But, it never hurts to start looking for more durable wheels, probably custom built with quality parts.

Marcus_Ti

Spoke breakage can be a freak thing...one will break and none others do. Or. One goes and then all the others start failing one by one.

Thing your shop will probably recommend is replacing one spoke and then if a 2nd goes rebuild the wheel.

Stock wheels can simply be poor quality....or the parts choices simply don't work together. Had a hybrid back 15 years ago, Ritchey hubs laced to CXP22 rims. That build just didn't work. Always was breaking spokes on the rear wheel even after a rebuild and not that many miles.

MRT2

Not surprised a stock back wheel would be giving you trouble at 375 lbs. In general, wheels on modestly priced bikes are a weak point in stock builds. Frankly, your LBS should have warned you that this probably would happen eventually. Maybe because your bike is so new, you can leverage a credit towards a new build or get them to sell you a new wheel at cost.

I have run into problems with back wheels and I weigh around 250 lbs. The stock 32 spoke Salsa Delgado Cross rim that came with my Salsa Casseroll started to crack after a couple of years of regular, but not especially hard riding. I decided to up the spoke count on my new wheel from 32 to 36. For piece of mind, I would recommend you consider at least 36 spokes for your new back wheel and if you can find it, 40 spokes. The modest weight penalty is more than balanced by piece of mind, IMO.

My LBS recommended the Alex DH19 rim(maybe that is what they had in stock, dunno, but they are a Surly dealer and this is the rim that comes stock on the Surly Long Haul Trucker which is a bike many use for bad weather commuting and self supported touring, so good enough for me). Though something like a Shimano 105 or Deore hub would likely have been fine, I went with a Velo Orange Touring hub. It cost me a few bucks extra, but I am hoping it is the last hub I will ever need so long as I stick with rim brakes. (they make a disc model as well if you are interested.)

MRT2

Yup. Years ago, my then brand new hybrid started breaking spokes after just a few weeks. After the third broken spoke, the bike shop offered to rebuild the wheel with new spokes. They were confident that the new hand built wheel would be much better. And it was. 17 years on and the wheel is still going strong.

I suspect the bike companies supply machine built wheels that might be adequate for lighter riders, but not so much for those of us heavier than 200 lbs.

sean.fed

Was afraid of that and they did warn me about the rear wheel may give problems and I kinda had guessed that it would be the weakest link. And sadly it is the back right rear that went. Is there any thing specific I should look into for rims for the schwalbe big apple tires? I see that Velocity NoBS or Chukker which are not too bad in price to rebuild a new rim. I will also talk to me LBS about it but also wanted y'alls opinions. Thanks everyone!

dr_lha

Speaking to your LBS is a good idea. You're riding a 29er with large tires, so you might need a wider rim than the Chukker and NoBS. Honestly, I'm out of my area of expertise there, as I've never owned a 29er.

chriskmurray

The NoBS works great with Big Apples, it is a combo I have been using for over a year on my cargo bike.

With that being said, their new/redesigned Cliffhanger would probably be a better option for you. I recently built up a set for a touring cyclists and they really did a good job on that rim!

Willbird

One issue I saw in my Fuji stock rear wheel, and corrected it was that the wheel was true, but the tension of the pairs of spokes was off, one was often 25% higher than the other one, this can be corrected and then all the spokes are "pulling their weight".

And a Clyde wheel may actually want/need MORE spoke tension than a flyweight riders wheel :-).

A LBS that knows how to stress relieve a wheel and get the tensions truly even will get the most out of the situation you have, and will be the least expensive alternative to start with.

The "right rear" is known as "drive side" or DS, the other side is NDS "non drive side"....due to the off center dish required for modern drive trains the DS spokes often have a lot more tension than NDS. The problem with the NDS spokes is often getting ENOUGH tension that they do not loosen up on their own.

The wheel/spokes viewed from the rear kinda looks like this /| ...those right hand drive side spokes being straighter have more tension than the left hand NDS side.

Bill

RocTurk

You defiitely need touring type wheelset and definitely 36 spokes double butted, brass nipples. Mavic A719 could be a good rim for you. At 240lbs I have Mavic A319 wheelset (machine built 36h) which I purchased after breaking 3 spokes on my Giant Escape and never broke another spoke since. You are heavier than me so the Stronger A719 would work better for you IMO. Why dont you check with a reputable wheel builder what they think? Prowheelbuilder.com have a list of clydes rated wheels, check what else might work for you.

DWhitworth

My LBS has been very good at a lot of things, but building wheelsets that work for guys our size (I am 6'6" 350)is not one of them. It isn't really thier fault, I doubt they ever have people our size ride signifigant miles.

My point being that if the LBS fixes your wheel, it might be great forever. But if it breaks another spoke soon, you need to find a better builder. I am sure there are a ton out there - I used Rich Lesnak at Rivendell and he built me a 40 spoke wheel that has been flawless (except when the chain jumped the inside of the cassette and tore up a bunch of spokes) for thousands of miles. When the 40 spoke wheel was out of service, I broke spokes on BOTH of the so called bomb proof wheels the LBS built me.

Bottom line, the Lesnak wheel was very expensive at $380, but worth_every_penny.

DaveW

sean.fed

Talked to my LBS and they said it was going to take 4 days due to a back log, but to my surprise they had it ready the next day which is awesome. Mechanic actually checked out both wheels, and found out the rear had two broken spokes. He replaced both and then went through and checked the tension on all spokes and re-trued the wheel. Must admit it feels a lot better then when I first got it but it may just be a mind thing haha. They did have another person around my size ride the same bike and he never had an issue but he also may not be riding the same terrain. I ride around 2-3 a week and around 20 miles each time. He said I should be fine if not bring it back in and we will talk about building a better wheel. But thank y'all all for the suggestions and most likely will go ahead and get a new wheel built before this summer.