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Old 09-21-11, 09:00 AM
  #8  
TonyA
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I've been having the same problem. I had maybe three spokes break in my whole life, and then suddenly last year they started breaking often. Only on my rear wheel, and I think only on the drive side. After 5 or 6 broke, I bought a new rear wheel. But the problem continued at almost the same rate.

At first I thought it was because I'd gotten so heavy in my dotage. But the weight gain happened over many years, whereas the spoke breakage started suddenly last year. And since it started I've lost 50 pounds, but the breaks continue.

I didn't think there'd been any changes in my riding habits, but after paying more attention to it I'm starting to think there were. In fact, I now suspect that the breaks happened after riding over a bump in the road while leaning on a curve. Maybe leaning creates extra stress in certain spokes? And the bump increases it even more for a particular spoke? I think maybe in the past I could see better and steer better and was more careful about bumps. And, oddly enough, I think I've been leaning more in general since turning 60.

I'm trying to avoid that combination of bumps and leaning, to see if it solves the problem. It would take many months of no breakage to draw any conclusion, and even then it wouldn't necessarily apply to anyone else's experience, but maybe changes in riding habits are something to consider.
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