Risky ? Safe to ride ?
 

Hi everyone I bought a raleigh sun solo off a guy. Didn't know what model it was until
I went searching. Anyways I started to hear a clunking niose when cycling and I went on to Sheldon browns website about noisy bikes. And I came to the conclusion that the spokes where lose. The wheels where already quit buckled. So I went and had a look at the rear wheel and I found a popped spoke and I looked closer and goin that the spokes where spoked wrong.
He had rebuilt the rear wheel the make it single speed. He just put a single speed hub in. Am I right to say the spoke pattern shoul be under under over . As in under a spoke under another spoke then over the last. Ie: making the spokes touch to distribute the weight. Well the spokes where spoked under under under and they wernt touching at all.

Would it be safe for me to ride the bike with a popped spoke and the wheel spoked wrong. I do I if my weigh comes into it but I'm about 155 pounds. Don't really want the wheel to go bust while on my commute to college.

Any help is appreciated thanks !

Get it rebuilt or buy a new wheel.

So I won't be able to cycle it to college tomorrow ? Haha

Many wheels have a 3X pattern, meaning that they 'touch' two others. Nothing at all wrong with that.

I mean the none of the spokes touch each other in the way they should it's the standard pattern. By which it has been spoked. I be leave the spoke popped because of it not being spoked right in the first place like pressure not being distributed enough causing failure

Sure you can ride it tomorrow....just address the the broken spoke asap before more pop. If there are 32 or 36 spokes to that wheel, even if it was not correctly laced, it won't asplode on you suddenly. Unless you are doing something reckless.

no you should not ride it. It has held up this long, but if you ride it and a few spoke pop when you're cruising down a hill and the back wheel locks up and you go over the bar... well you will think to yourself "I knew I shouldn't have ridden it like that".

As I expected ok thanks for the straight answer

Actually, locking up the rear wheel isn't necessarily a catastrophe like it would be if the front locked up. With a good sense of balance you can stay upright as the rear wheel skids and you eventually stop by braking the front. But the real question is whether the wheel is stable enough. If you get halfway to class and the wheel collapses, even if you aren't hurt you'll have to walk the rest of the way with a bicycle that won't roll. You'll have to judge the wheel with a critical eye, and by all means get it fixed ASAP.

I don't know anything about this bike or it's wheel size, condition, whether the rim is small and rigid or has more than enough spokes, etc.

The issue to me then is whether it is safe to jump on any used bike and ride, just because it seems ok.

I've known riders to just take some used road bike out for high-mileage, high-speed riding without ever even inspecting the rim tape, to see if perhaps a sudden air loss was imminent.

Any used bike should be thoroughly inspected by a qualified person before being put into service, as should any new department-store bike.
Such an inspection checks everything, from spoke tension to a close visual inspection of every inch of the chain, and every nut and bolt on the bike.

In either case, it is much of a gamble as to whether one of many possible failures is likely. Having a tire's tread peel off, having a chain break, or having a caliper fall apart are not good things, and I've seen longer-term neglect result in a fork steerer left with no threads because the headset locknut wasn't kept tight.

This bike's back wheel might be the least of the rider's concerns.

The bike needs two new wheels the rear rim has a hole rusted throw the first wall. They're a rigida super chromatic wheels it needs a lot of work I just though I mite get to college but. I choose not to take it on the safe side

If I'm reading you right, the spokes were not "laced," that is, not woven together. A lot of wheels are built that way; it really doesn't matter. The loose spokes, that's a problem. The broken spoke, that's definitely a problem. The hole rusted through the rim, that is definitely a problem. But those Rigida super chromix rims are really tough, you can probably ride it for a while.

Do they teach spelling at your college? :lol:

Wheel set... Don't mess around... Just do it...

It will be like getting a whole nuther bike...

Nah i do electrical engineering at college not English hahahaha never was a good speller. Ye I'm jut gonna get a wheel set thanks for the help tho

The nice thing about spelling properly is that a single person can make the effort (to write) once, and then all the many readers don't have to put in the effort (to read) redundantly.

What school is going is to allow you to pass through Electrical Engineering without being able to spell words like "where" "were" and "be leave" "believe"? I'm not beating up on you because I know spelling is really tough for some people but once you graduate you are going to need to be able to spell in the professional world. I guess all I'm saying is think about a way to improve it, it is important. And once you do finish your EE accept my congratulations, that is one tough degree to get.

Ms spld wrds???

Wht mis spld wrds?

0Ph73|\| \/\/3 /\/\U$7 4D4P7 4|\|D 0\/3r (0/\/\3 ...

I know I'm not a great speller and it's a thing I need to get my head around. A lot of it is laziness really should really read over the threads I post. Sorry again

He! :) Welcome to C&V. I find that when I've been drinking IPA I can't tpye. That happens most often after a long rdie.