cabrilo

Air,

I am worried you might be enjoying this a bit too much.

I will call the mechanic.

Air

No, not enjoying...not sure what the right word is. Takes the sting out of what happened with my wheel Also good to know I'm not the only one who has to touch the pot sometimes to make sure it's hot - I'm much better at giving advice than taking it when a cheaper solution is presenting itself.

making

I bought a new rear wheel and took my spoke buster in to be rebuilt. I busted two spokes on my way home Thursday. After I busted the first spoke I probably averaged 50 miles per spoke. I busted about 10 this summer. I dont know if it is connected but I had a ton of flats too, in the spring and early summer, about every other trip to work, but they seem to have stopped. Hope I did not just jinx myself.

chewybrian 

Vindication, Commiseration, Schadenfreude...?

In a weird way, it feels good to know I was not alone in this struggle, either. I finally got a new and better wheelset, and I will be much quicker to pull the trigger next time. It's not worth the hassle. Replace, upgrade, and get your bike out of the shop and on the road.

djnzlab1

HI,
very new to this Bike riding, I was having problems with my tires, my LBS reccomended a smoother riding tire for my Mountian Bike it made a Big difference in riding, I asked him about my rear wheel he said allow him to build one for me, I could order the rims and hub and he would bend stainless steel wire and make me a very strong wheel.
It seems like a pain but pushing a broke bike with chaffing pants on can really rub you ther wrong way..
Hey you lucky to have a strong bike frame and adding few parts to improve the quality will make it almost as good as a high end bike. Ive spent 70 bucks on shoes 50 on clips, 80 on tires 70 on a seat and now I may upgrade the wheel.
My bike worth more now than when it was new.

Doug

dcullen

Think of it this way.

Most spokes break due to one of 3 reasons.
1)They are damaged by a local stress. Think tree branch (pannier, small furry animal,etc) caught in the wheel or jumping steps. Stress exceeds strength.
2. They have a defect (say from the manufacturing process or by abuse in building a wheel)
3. They have accumulated enough stress over their lifetime to cause the material to fatigue and fail.

Repairing #1 is obvious
#2 can be a bit trickier. High quality spokes will rarely escape the quality control process and make it on the market. You'll find frequent advise on brands that meet this criteria (DT, WS, Sapim) This usually will result in a single failure of the defective part. No need to go whole hog and replace all the spokes for the failure of one spoke especially if the wheel has relatively few miles on it. Abuse after manufacturing could be lead to the failure of multiple spokes. And if its the result of poor construction practice it's likely to lead to multiple failures.
#3 means the spokes are worn out. The constant cycling of tension works the elbows and fatigues the material and leads to failure. If this is the case you'll see a cascade of failures as each spoke fatigues. Modern production methods suggest that all of the spokes will exhibit similar behavior.

So, if spokes are breaking for reasons other than a localized event what should you do? If the spokes(wheels) have relatively few miles and are not being abused (like by heavy riders with very low spoke counts riding very rough surfaces, jumping,etc) a single spoke failure is no reason to panic. When having the spoke replaced, have the whole wheel brought to proper tension. Decide whether the wheel construction is appropriate for its use.
Multiple failures are just going to cascade in replacing all of the spokes. Get it over with before you have a catastrophic failure.

BTW Rims have similar fatigue characteristics.

Also loose spokes will project into the wheel and wiggle where its loaded (the bottom) and can poke lovely holes in your tubes


Doug

dscheidt

You forgot the reason for most fatigue failures: insufficient spoke tension. Properly sized spokes, properly tensioned, properly stress relieved, will last a really, really long time. As in, they'll last longer than the rims will on a bike with rim brakes. several times over.

Wogster

Even though the spokes can last longer then a rim, I don't know about reusing the spokes when building a new wheel, the hub, yes, probably overhaul the hub first though to make sure that it's not well worn as well, then build the wheel with a new rim, and new spokes. Spokes are cheap enough that it doesn't make sense, as a money saving measure. If you tweak a $300 rim, because you were cheap and reused $20 worth of spokes you would not be happy.

BTW does anyone know how many miles a rim, with rim brakes should last?

dscheidt

A 300 buck rim is pretty likely to be an ultra-light racing rim, that's failed because it's not suitable for what it's used for, and not a sensible wheel. Rims fail because they're damaged in a crash, they crack around the spoke holes, or the brakes wear the sides out. If there's nothing wrong with the spokes (they're not kinked, rusting, scratched, or otherwise physically damaged), you can undo the nipples, and you're using a wheel that requires the same length of spoke there's no reason not to reuse the spokes. Sure, if you're paying someone to build you a wheel, it might be silly, but if you're doing it yourself, it makes sense. It's really easy, too. Just put the wheel in a stand, put the new rim next to it, turn it so the drillings match, and tape the two rims together. Then move one spoke at a time. replace the nipples if they look less than perfect, and oil the threads. True, tension, stress relieve, retrue, and put it back on the bike.

How long a rim last depends on the rim, the kind of roads (or no roads) it's ridden on, the weather it's used in and a host of other factors. Riding bad weather will get grit into the brake pads and act like sandpaper on the rim's braking surface. A rim should last many thousand miles, unless it's really cheap, abused, crashed, or a racing wheel.

Mr. Beanz

Wow, only took you a year to think up this wiesenheimer response!

Mr. Beanz

Whatever that means! I responded to your post, dated today.

Condorita

Beanz isn't Jewish, therefore not "spinoza."

Mr. Beanz

Yeah wake up! It's been a 14 month sleep!

X-LinkedRider

Get thicker spokes, a wheel with more of them and double/triple walled rim. Or go to a different bike shop as they are not stress relieving them properly

late

If you plan on keeping the Cannondale for a few years, have it built up with a new rim. Deep V, CXP33, that sort of thing.

If you can, what I would suggest, is to start looking for a different bike. Having owned an old Cannondale, that is what I would do and what i did.

Homeyba

Beanz, apparently Boazmoss hasn't been around long enough to bother looking at the post date of the most recent post on this thread. If he had one would hope that he wouldn't have opened his orifice and inserted his keyboard in a thread that is so old it is growing moss, kind of like his name.

CliftonGK1

Not to harp on a thread which is over a year old... but are you kidding? Come on, Captain Overkill; you seriously think that somebody who's only 239 pounds needs to go with a 26" wheel to build up something strong enough?

At 260 pounds I was beating the snot out of a pair of handbuilt 32h DT RR1.1 rims laced 3x with 14g spokes to a SON28 front and Deore rear hub. I'm 225 now, and still hammering on the same wheels. I've only had to true them once after the initial 250 - 300 mile break-in truing.

Big Lug

I personally think that wheel problems are exactly that wheel problems. I weigh 300lbs right now and i ride bontrager race lites never had a problem. Before that i weighed ~375 and rode on bontrager race wheel and never had a problem. I have over 1000 miles on the race's and 500 o the race lites. Never a problem other than warranty replacement on the race's due to rim wall cracking due to manufacturer defect (people that weigh 120 have the same problem with the old race's). The only wheels i have ever had issues with hurting spokes was on my MTB and i was 400lbs doing jumps and stuff.

J.W.

Mr. Beanz

I ride roadies, 23 tires and over 60,000 miles. Never had a problem since the introduction of the Deep V to my rides. 220lbs-250 lbs depending on how many Ben and Jerry's I've had that month!

Last Deep V lasted 20,000 miles till the brake surface wore out. One SLIGHT truing at 14,000 miles.

At 239, needing an ATB frame?....Let's not even go there Bozomoss!

Homeyba

Besides not being able to read, you can't spell and you're a homobae-phobe...that is no way to go through life son...

grimace308

the dean has spoken. boz might just be, faber material.

grimace308

hold on a second, let me get this straight. you resurrect a thread thats been dead OVER one year and try to be a wise donkey. you take some ribbing from other poster and dont fare well with your rebuttal. a guy pops off an animal house quote, so i run with it. now youre getting bent out of shape? seriously, now youve been pushed too far and animal house references pushed you over the edge? fair enough, dude.

whats your weight have to do with anything and if youre so svelte, why are you flapping your gums over on the clydesdale section?

btw, are you 65 degrees above absolute zero, or are you 65kg?

Homeyba

Grim, your analysis is correct, Faber material...

Big Lug

O crap I'm slow i just got te year to respond thing!!! WTF ??

LarDasse74

boazmoss: did you notice the title of this forum:
"Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg)"

BTW, love the avatar - looks like a young Ron Jeremy