Originally Posted by
SeizeTech
a 2.0mm stainless steel spoke is about as tough as you are going to find on the market, that is what i had on my ezip. many spokes are more expensive because they are double or triple butted, meaning that the manufacturer has reduced the size of the spoke in the middle to make them a bit lighter, while not significantly changing the overall strength of the spoke. In the case of the currie ezip, they chose a thick spoke but didnt source it from an expensive vendor.
the currie spokes are Stainless steel, too. the really cheap spokes - which arent on the ezip - are galvanized steel, and they dont have the tensile strength of the stainless steel.
Dont get me wrong, I understand your gripes about the general quality of the ezip, I have the same complaints, however, the spokes do seem to be well selected for the bike, even if we are experiencing alot of broken spokes.
Beleive me I really don't have gripes about the quality of the EZip bikes. I am simply pointing out that they are what they are low cost motorized bikes. While the spokes maybe stainless steel that is only a general term. SS comes in many grades and quality. While we would like to think that a quality grade making is the same world wide it is not. Therefore, fon't be fooled into believing that all the parts (spokes) on an EZip is the same quality as know name brands parts (spokes). Some may be and others are not. Of course no one knows if your spokes were properly tightened when they broke nor if you simply hit a curb. I'm 63yo and have own more bikes then I can remember and none were any better quality then my EZips. But in all these bikes I have only broken 1 spoke and it was on a bike that I loaned t osomeone and got it back with the broken spoke. He hit a curb with his butt flat of the seat.