Originally Posted by
Homeyba
I broke a spoke on my eight year old front Zipp wheel last month and it wasn't ride over. We rode it 15 miles home with no problems other than a slight wobble. We did take it very easy and kept the speeds low but it got us back with no problems. I had a 36spoke wheel break two spokes at once 15 miles outside of Brest (France). I wasn't able to fix it and was barely able to get the bike back to town...
Well I guess I shot my mouth off without thinking it through. I once had a 16 spoke Velomax (now Easton) wheel on my single and when it broke a spoke it was ride over. To top it off, Velomax would not send me one of their special spokes to fix it. I had to send it back to them at my expense to be repaired. They used a Velocity aerohead rim which is not very deep or rigid. I think that was the day I decided to start building my own wheels.
So if you have a deep rim, breaking a spoke may not be a big deal as I thought and the paired spokes on Rolf wheels may make it even less of a problem.
Spokes should not break on a properly designed and built wheel in the first place. But I have to admit I have had wheels that break spokes for no obvious reason, while other wheels never have broken a spoke.