Originally Posted by
fietsbob
On breaking the NDS spoke, I suspect there may have been a flaw
in the wire used to form the spoke.
even if tensioned and trued ..
Given the miles of wire used to make spokes, not all of it can be flawlessly perfect.
The process of forming spokes effectively rules out flawed wire, which wouldn't survive the process. Also the odds of random flaws consistently ending up at elbows, and those flawed spokes being used on the left flange are staggering.
Spokes break at the elbow because that's where the strength is least and flex greatest. It surprises folks that the less stressed left side spokes break more frequently, but that's what happens, for a variety of reasons.