I have Mavic CXP 21's with 32 spokes on my bike. The bike is almost new (about 100 miles on it) and I have the wheels go out of true on every long 25+ mile ride that I have taken so far. Once I was able to true the wheel myself on the road and get it close enough to get home on. At that time I noticed a couple of loose spokes one was so loose I could turn the nipple by hand. I tightened that spoke and the others and that helped a little. The next day on a 25 mile ride on reasonably good roads the same thing happened and the same spoke(s) were loose. This time I took it to the shop and they trued it. They thought it would hold up fine but yesterday while 30 miles into a 42 mile ride, both wheels went out of true. I had to back off the brakes so that the rime would not hit. Well I returned the bike to shop and asked them to correct it. The tech said he would do the wheels over and apply loctite (then he corrected himself by saying spoke prep) to the threads. My questions are as follows, I am heavier than the average rider 220lbs will these wheels hold up in the long run? Should they use loctite it seems to me that that would make it very difficult to turn the nipples in the future? I have been riding most of my life and I try to ride as "light" as I can so I dont think its my riding style, but I guess it could be. Any thoughts??

It shounds like a bad wheel build to me. The spokes should not loosen up like that with so much frequency. It needs to have the proper tension set on the spokes which it obviously does not have.

I concur a bad wheel build.!!!!!

Thanks for the rapid replys. If it is a bad wheel build I assume it can be fixed by re-doing the wheel? Is this true. The wheel has never gone so far out as to ruin the rim.

90% probable I`ve seenin the last 10 or so years
a few bad spokes and wheel combinations but this
is very rare.!

bad wheels or bad nipples, that's why everytime you ride your bike the spokes becomes loose

you may want to ask your local shop tech about those nipples that lock themselves..the thread inside the nipple starts out a regular size and then gradularly gets smaller !!thus locking itself in the process..I think they are made by sapim or something like that..check it out .

You may have "sprung" your wheel. If memory and description serve- If the wheel is sprung, the spokes on the side where your rim hits the brake pad would be "looser" than those of the other side or the spokes may not be tensioned tight enough.

I don't think your weight would be a problem, I'm a similar weight with no problems.

Loctite is a good idea, you can get it in formulas that are designed for adjustability that do work fairly well. DT spokes recommend their own preparation, I believe it can be applied after the wheel is built. I use linseed oil when building wheels to prep the spokes, but I don't know how well it would penetrate an assembled spoke and nipple.

[Edited by pat5319 on Feb 25th at 11:36 AM]

UPDATE:

The shop re-tensioned the spokes, I don't think they did the best job but it seems to be holding up; 60+ miles this weekend and no change yet. We'll see how they hold up in the long run. I also spoke with Lemond bikes about it. They were sort of helpful and suggested that if does not get better, have a good wheel builder go through the wheel again. I did notice that the Mavic CXP-21's were standard on several cyclocross bikes, so I would imagine that they are durable, And my weight should not be a problem.

If you have a new Lemond bike and the wheel is badly built, I think you have a good claim for a complete rebuild by someone who knows what they are doing. If your LBS lacks a skilled professional wheelbuilder, contact Lemond directly.

The strength of a wheel has little to do with the quality of the components. Mostly is down to the skill of the builders, then the spoke count. Given a good build, expensive bits will lower the weight, and/or extend the life of the wheel, but lightweight rims can also wear out more quickly than cheaper, thicker walled rims.

Im afraid that wheel build is one of those things that is easy to skimp on because most bike shoppers dont know about it. I had my cheapie commuting wheels built by hand out of low-end components. They have lasted over 2 years of daily abuse with no problems.