vwchisme

I purchased a rear wheel with the spec of Velocity 700c Chukker black 36hr, Shimano Ultegra hub and Wheelsmith DB14 black back in June of 2010. It has about 1k miles on it, I was about to leave for my weekly Tuesday night ride and only made it 10 ft. out the drive way, when I heard a strange noise coming from the rim. The rim is still true, the cassette side spokes are stiff and the non cassette side spokes have low tension. They offered to replace the spoke and true the wheel, my concern from past rims experience is further spokes breaking. Does the high/low tension signal the beginning of the end for this wheel? Or I'm I been over paranoid from past mass produced wheels. I don't want to spend my summer dealing with broken spokes.

prathmann

It's normal for the drive-side spokes to have more tension than the non-drive-side. That's because the wheel is dished with the spokes on the non-drive-side pulling on the rim at more of an angle to that side. If they had just as much tension then they'd pull the rim over too far.

Hard to say if you'll have additional spoke problems in the future. It could just be one bad spoke or possibly something that nicked that spoke in the past (a twig picked up while riding, someone bumping it with their bike when parking, etc.). Or you might have additional problems. Let them fix this spoke and see how it goes.

motobecane69

i agree

Wogster

The general rule, break one spoke, replace it, break a second spoke, replace that one, break a third spoke, replace all of them. The only question is, will it be warranty work....

dcrowell

I would say the wheel should have been re-tensioned and trued after the first few hundred miles. You may not have had a spoke break that way.

It's not too late though. Have the spoke replaced, and the wheel tensioned and trued. Should last a long time after that.

pdlamb

After (only) 1000 miles, I'd be wondering if they tensioned it right, or if the spokes were stress relieved. But go ahead and let them fix it, at least this time. (And see if you can locate a copy of Brandt's "The Bicycle Wheel.")

socalrider

+1, truing is fine but they need to check the tension and make sure they are on spec..

vwchisme

Where it's broken at, is whats got me baffled. The spoke breakage is on the actual thread of the spoke, it looks to me like the nipple over time got loose and eventually broke because of the stress. But then again what do I know I'm not a wheel builder.

The spokes are covered under warranty, it's the inconvenience on the person and the lack of peace of mind. Especially since I'll be riding in 60 mile Cure De Tour ride, the best part of any warranty is not having to use it.

I thought about sending the wheel back for re-tension after putting in some miles. Did not want to offend the wheel builder, since he's highly respected in these forums and the wheel set up is considered bomb proof in the Clydesdale forums for us heavy riders.

On my warranty claim email I express my concern with further spokes breaking, if part of replacing the spoke they would inspect the rim & spokes and if it was standard procedure to re-tension the spokes. The response was they would fix the spoke, re-true the wheel and will even due and inspection to make sure the wheel is sound.

barturtle

I've followed the replace 2 rebuild on 3 (or actually build a new wheel as I've only broken spokes on wheelsets I wouldn't spend money on rebuilding)

Out of curiosity, how do you like the Chukkers? And what type of riding do you do with them. I'm something of a notorious spoke breaker (@230#) and have been thinking of doing some CX racing and maybe building a set of Chukkers for it. Have you noticed the weight of the rims or is it a non-issue?

Mr. Beanz

I've had a spoke break at the threads, replaced it and it was fine. (not my wheel build)



You shouldn't think that way, it's your money and you will be the one with damaged goods. funny but I have argued with several posters that the clyde wheels need to be retensioned but they most will argue that they have the proven way. I still think they are wrong about the issue, this doesn't help change my mind.

Hopefully the guy takes care of it. But I must add that a highly rec'd builder really jacked me. Highly rec'd on the forums but not a poster, good thing or he would have gotten a pageful.

I paid for a tandem wheel to be built. Deep V and "DT SWISS SPOKES" Let me say tha again........ "DT SWISS SPOKES" !!!!!!!

He built the wheel and 100 miles later a spoke broke!..... I went back to the shop and it was gone..after 30 or so years I didn't know what went on so I replaced the spoke myself. I should have built it myself but figuring it was a tandem wheel, I wanted the "PRO"s to do it. So I replaced the spoke and after another 50 miles, a second spoke broke!

So I insepcted the wheel trying to figure out what the problem was since it seemed like a good build. I checked everyone of the those spokes and found that the broken spoke was some brand I had never heard of. 2 others also so I figured the first one that broke probably was too! So I figured the guy knew they were going out of business and he used some cheapo spokes in place of the 4 that he was short for the build. I loosened every spoke, replaced the cheapos with DT (as I had ordered and payed for) and retensioned it myself. Since then I have not had another broken spoke.

When I went to another shop, I was lucky that the guy had just the right amount (3) in stock. He said that most shops now use the black an bladed types rather than the traditional so not many places have a good supply. Figure that's why the builder jacked me on cheapo spokes. Knowing they were closing adn didn;t want to order the spokes "I PAID FOR"

Hopefully your respected builder used what you asked and didn't replace with a cheapo spoke or a spoke that was too short in length cause he was short of the proper spokes. Hopefully that' s not the case, but you never know. Other times, sheot just happens so hopefuly it's an ez fix.

If I were you, I'd check the spokes myself to make sure they are all the same band and what you ordered, no substitutes. Also check to see that not too much of the thread is showing on each spoke. If so, bring it up, maybe he used spokes that were too short for the app.

As for the builder that jacked me, everytime his name goes up on the board, I'm sure to send a PM to the person asking for reputable builders in the area with an explanation of my experience with the guy.

vwchisme

had a couple pinch flats in a short span but aside from that no issues with the Chukker. The majority (95%) of my riding is on city streets, commute home and two weekly evening rides. I weight in at 285 so the weight of the is the least of my problems LOL.

vwchisme

Was about to ship the rim and took your advise to inspect the rim and i think the broken spoke is the least of my worries. On the cassette side the lock nut was loose :0, the axle thread is strip and it looks like the ball bearing are worn out

SuperFatDave

Couple of questions and/or suggestions.
When the mechanic built your wheel for you, dii you take it back after putting a couple of hundred miles on it, or did you simply ride it until you had the spoke issue?
I ask cause most wheel builders I know ask that people bring the wheel back for them to check the tension on the wheel after ridning it for a certain amount of hours or mileage as they stand behind their work.
Give em a chance to do right by you and make things right. Also ask the mechanic what if any maintanence you need to do to ensure the long life of your wheel.

vwchisme

Simply rode it still a spoke broke, IIRC was told no need to check tention, plus he's back east.
Ended up taking to a local builder since the previous builder is back east. He took care of me and now i can focus on training for the Tour DE Cure ride.

RI_Swamp_Yankee

I deal with incredibly expensive computer equipment at work. This stuf is advertised with Nine-nines of uptime - that is, the vendors guarantee their equipment will be up and running 99.99999% of the time. My job is to deal with that .00001%.

In my experience, sometimes, even the priciest pieces of hardware just break. It's the law of averages. Don't take it personally until it becomes a trend.

michaelnel

Spokes almost always break from being too loose. It's nobody's responsibility but the owner of the bike to make sure the spokes are up to tension. If you can't do it yourself, then take it to someone to have them checked.

Riding until you break spokes is simply irresponsible.