harshbarj

I asked this about a week ago in the Bicycle Mechanics forum but as my weight is around 100-105kg (~220-230lbs) I thought I would ask here as well.

I am having a real problem breaking spokes. I have this problem on both my old bicycles and my brand new trek belleville. The things just keep going for seemingly no reason.

I tend to be a slow rider and normally like to go along around 15kph. Our streets are full of potholes though and I do hit them from time to time, but only once broke a spoke on one (doing nearly 40kph and hit a major crater that almost tossed me off). I rarely hit them full speed as I know where most are now and weave around to miss them (must look like a drunk to many). The worst I do is do my shopping on the weekends and load the bike with between 15-30 kg of stuff. My rack is rated for 25kgs so I feel 30 should just be ok.

2 of my bikes are standard 700x35c wheels and the other is a normal 26 inch mountain bike. Every spoke in the last 4 years have been rear spokes, even with a front rack on my new bike and loading that down.

I was told it was most likely that the spokes were not tensioned properly from the start. I am taking the wheel to a little hole in the wall shop that has been around a good 20 years and give them a try. I was just wondering whats the overall thought.

And btw. I was at ~90kg for a few months when I was on a little diet and was still breaking on average a spoke a week. So I don't think it's my weight.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.