What would cause a broken wheel to be "effed"?
04-10-18, 10:35 AM
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What would cause a broken wheel to be "effed"?
So I had an accident last weekend. Rear derailleur hanger broke mid-ride sending the RD into the rear wheel, breaking a spoke, bending 3 others and cracking my carbon frame.
Frame's obviously toast, but a friend of a friend owns a bike shop and my friend said that after looking at it, his bike buddy said the wheel was "effed".
After the crash, the rim seemed OK, outside of the one broken spoke and 3 bent ones on the drive-side. I would have figured it would have been as easy as replacing the 4 broken/bent spokes and re-truing the wheel.
Anything else that could have caused him to say that? Hub worked fine when I tested it and as I said, the rim seemed straight without anything bent. Wondering if it's worth me buying 4 new spokes and doing it myself
Frame's obviously toast, but a friend of a friend owns a bike shop and my friend said that after looking at it, his bike buddy said the wheel was "effed".
After the crash, the rim seemed OK, outside of the one broken spoke and 3 bent ones on the drive-side. I would have figured it would have been as easy as replacing the 4 broken/bent spokes and re-truing the wheel.
Anything else that could have caused him to say that? Hub worked fine when I tested it and as I said, the rim seemed straight without anything bent. Wondering if it's worth me buying 4 new spokes and doing it myself
04-10-18, 10:46 AM
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Perhaps one of the damaged spokes pulled a nipple partially through the rim or damaged a nipple seat. Examine the rim in detail to see if there is any subtle damage.
04-10-18, 10:57 AM
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Definitions of "effed" vary. If the rim isn't cracked anywhere, I would be tempted to buy more spokes and fix it up. Note: you may want to buy a few extra for each side in case there is latent damage to any spokes that didn't break.
04-10-18, 12:29 PM
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So I had an accident last weekend. Rear derailleur hanger broke mid-ride sending the RD into the rear wheel, breaking a spoke, bending 3 others and cracking my carbon frame.
Frame's obviously toast, but a friend of a friend owns a bike shop and my friend said that after looking at it, his bike buddy said the wheel was "effed".
After the crash, the rim seemed OK, outside of the one broken spoke and 3 bent ones on the drive-side. I would have figured it would have been as easy as replacing the 4 broken/bent spokes and re-truing the wheel.
Anything else that could have caused him to say that? Hub worked fine when I tested it and as I said, the rim seemed straight without anything bent. Wondering if it's worth me buying 4 new spokes and doing it myself
Frame's obviously toast, but a friend of a friend owns a bike shop and my friend said that after looking at it, his bike buddy said the wheel was "effed".
After the crash, the rim seemed OK, outside of the one broken spoke and 3 bent ones on the drive-side. I would have figured it would have been as easy as replacing the 4 broken/bent spokes and re-truing the wheel.
Anything else that could have caused him to say that? Hub worked fine when I tested it and as I said, the rim seemed straight without anything bent. Wondering if it's worth me buying 4 new spokes and doing it myself
Last edited by AnkleWork; 04-10-18 at 01:00 PM.
04-10-18, 01:30 PM
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I'd say unless the hub is effed, the wheel is not. But costs factor in at some point I suppose. If it's cheaper to replace the whole wheel than it is to buy spokes, a rim, and the cost of building, you could justify calling it effed.
Be a shame to throw away a repairable wheel though...
Be a shame to throw away a repairable wheel though...
04-11-18, 07:34 AM
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What do you think that you have to lose by trying to fix it?
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04-11-18, 08:33 AM
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So I had an accident last weekend. Rear derailleur hanger broke mid-ride sending the RD into the rear wheel, breaking a spoke, bending 3 others and cracking my carbon frame.
Frame's obviously toast, but a friend of a friend owns a bike shop and my friend said that after looking at it, his bike buddy said the wheel was "effed".
After the crash, the rim seemed OK, outside of the one broken spoke and 3 bent ones on the drive-side. I would have figured it would have been as easy as replacing the 4 broken/bent spokes and re-truing the wheel.
Frame's obviously toast, but a friend of a friend owns a bike shop and my friend said that after looking at it, his bike buddy said the wheel was "effed".
After the crash, the rim seemed OK, outside of the one broken spoke and 3 bent ones on the drive-side. I would have figured it would have been as easy as replacing the 4 broken/bent spokes and re-truing the wheel.
That said, sending the rear derailer into the wheel doesn't do anything good for the wheel. Sending the rear derailer into the wheel and breaking a spoke while damaging 3 others is even worse. Breaking the frame while breaking a spoke and damaging 3 others makes damaging the wheel somewhat trivial. Frankly, salvaging the wheel is the least of your worries.
As for just replacing 4 spokes, that's not trivial. You haven't said how many spokes you have but even if the bike had 36 spokes, replacing 4 of them shouldn't be done by simple removing the spokes and replacing them. You really should detension the wheel lace in the new spokes and retension. That's a fair amount of work which, again, may not be worth the time and effort depending on the wheel.
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
04-11-18, 10:31 AM
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Replacing 4 spokes is trivial if the rim and hub weren't damaged. If you have any doubt about length, remove an undamaged spoke to measure. Insert the new spokes and bring them up to tension while leaving the rest alone - this will tell you how much the rim has been affected by the abrupt change in tension during and after being broken.
