My 2 year Raleigh Revenio has ~6500 miles on it and is starting to pop spokes on a weekly basis, each time it is the alloy nipple head inside the rim that breaks, So I am thinking it might be time for new wheels.

I am I correct that new wheels normally come with the freewheel?
What tools would I need to remove transfer my existing cassette to the new wheel?
At 6500 miles, should I just replace the cassette as well? (while the hood is open ) I have replaced the chain once and the shifting seems fine, but I will probably need a new chain by the end of this season.

I am not really looking to upgrade over the stock wheels, but I definitely don't want to downgrade
I am thinking about getting these wheels from nashbar, which according the Vuelta site uses brass nipples.
Do these seem on par, better or worse the the specs for the stock wheels?

I was also considering the these , but I am not that big that I think i need heavy duty wheels. (6ft - 158 lbs)

Why not replace all the nipples with brass ones?

I was under the impression that rebuilding a wheel was one of the more difficult tasks in bike repair

Tools for swapping out wheels would be Chain Whip and lockring tool to move the cassette over and that's it.

Edit: I have those wheels and have put a few thousand miles on them and just recently broke a spoke. They came pretty close to true and have stayed pretty close to true except of course when the spoke broke. I put a fresh spoke on and trued it up. Ready to ride again.

Rather than get in over your head, take it to a shop and say "Make it So"

[I'd suppose the Alu Nips were too gram shaving for your use. ]

still thinking new wheels ? go mainstream conventional, 3 cross 36 spoke Brass Nips..

New wheels include freehubs (it's not a freewheel in your case) but not the sprockets, which come as a "cassette". You need a cassette lockring tool, a chainwhip and tire levers.

Keep in mind this will likely cost you nearly as much to do as the new set of Vueltas.

Stay away from aluminum nipples; IMO the weight savings are overshadowed by the tendency of the aluminum ones to break or seize.

It is also possible that the spokes are on the short side and are not engaging a sufficient amount of the nipple threads, which is why the heads are breaking off.

Yes they are all seized. Last time one broke (before yesterdays) I brought it to the bike shop, and he said he thought the maybe used locktite or something, but doing some research, I do see this a complaint about the alloy nipples

Thanks for the info. So in general it sounds like you are happy with those wheels?

Spoke nipples breaking off isn't normal, no matter what they are made of. The suggestion that the spokes were too short is a very good one. Talk to your Raleigh dealer, they may be able to help you out. Nipples should never break even after much more mileage than your wheels have seen. If you make your case politely yet forcefully you may get some help from your dealer

I've recommended them many times on these forums. Good bang for the buck. I'm planning on buying their wheels again.

This is basically what my LBS guy said last time I broke a spoke. With over 6500 miles on the wheel, it is not worth replacing them one at a time, and I new wheel would be cheaper than having him rebuild the existing one.

Did your LBS guy talk about looking into asking the manufacturer about help with your situation? Spoke nipples shouldn't break, ever. That is a manufacturing defect

Good suggestion.
My wife suggested I contact Raleigh after she read that a wheel should last 10-18K miles, of course I blew her off But I guess I should at least try.

Don't do it. If she proves correct after you blew her off you will never hear the end of it.

What is more important, your pride, or resolving the problem? She was probably right. You can make huge gains in your personal situation by admitting that she made a very good suggestion

Absolutely, and I am sure RPK79 comment was in just as well. She's a good sport last time I broke a spoke on ride training for a century I called he and she brought me the wheel off her bike (Capri - Revenio's sister model)

Broken nipples can be caused by too-short spokes. See the illustration; if the threaded spoke extends all the way to the end of the nipple, the cone shaped end is under compression, supported by the spoke threads. If the spoke doesn't reach that far, it's under tension and can break in half.

See the discussion here.



You can inspect the nipples by removing the tire, taking off the rim strip, and checking the tops of the nipples inside the rim.

The spoke end should be up right to the screwdriver slot in the top of the nipple. If it's way down inside, the wheel was badly designed and could be a warranty fix.

Nice diagram. this seems exactly like what I have. I can see some spokes extending into the screw driver slot and some clearly below it. I have the broken head of the nipple and it is exactly in the location shown, and you can see that top remaining spoke is still quite a bit down in the shaft of the broken nipple. I will try to get a picture.

I think this confirms the short spoke theory. You can see the unused threads in the broken off nipple head.

Check which spokes are short. If it is the non drive side spokes that are short, they may have built the wheels with the same length spokes on both sides. Normally, the non drive side spokes need to be a mm or two longer than the drive side spokes. In any case, it looks very much as if your wheels were not properly built

I can't really notice any pattern to which are too short and which are not. I am still pursuing getting this fixed, but I decided to by a new set of wheels anyway (my front wheel has a nice gouge in it.

Anyway at the last minute I went with the lites , mainly because they had better reviews. I am hoping I do not regret that. They have alloy nipples , but it seems that should be OK , if the wheel is build properly. Now that I know what I am looking for, I will take the rim tape off and if any of them look too short, I will send them back.