Originally Posted by
Kontact
I disagree. Spokes work 100% by tension and aren't even anchored to the rim. All they do is pull, and that pull never goes to zero tension.
Agree. The only things that will cause a properly tensioned spoke to reach zero tension is a rim failure, whether a dent, a crack, or a rim collapse, or a hub flange failure.
I suppose it's theoretically possible that a high-enough sudden load could unload a single spoke enough to cause it to lose tension but I've never seen nor experienced such a load that did not cause the rest of the structure to fail catastrophically. I can't even imagine a scenario where a load like that would not cause the rider to lose control whether the wheel failed or not.