2nd broken spoke in 6 months
 

I broke a spoke on my ride in this morning. It happened (I think) when I hit a patch of black ice and the bike came out from under me. All is well, except for the broken spoke. Guess I should invest in some of those studded tires.

I know that broken spokes happen now and then. This is the 2nd broken spoke on the same rear wheel in 6 months. Should I:

1) Just repair the spoke and go on with my life
2) Rebuild the wheel with better spokes
3) Replace the entire wheel

The wheel has about 1900 miles on it, all commuting 10 miles a day. Alex Ace 19 rims. Not sure of the hub make. I weigh in at about 170, and I carry 10 - 15 lbs of stuff (laptop, clothes, etc.) in the morning (not counting what I am wearing).

Peter White is just up the road. Thought about having him build up a set of commuter-appropriate wheels, but that will put a hole in the wallet.

Thoughts.

Thanks,

Mark

For now, just fix the spoke. If you pass his shop anyway, there's no harm in asking Peter White to check the spoke tension --he can probably do it just by squeezing them a little. Perhaps they all need to be tightened up 1/4 turn.

If the spokes have been compromised by 2000 miles of riding under insufficient tension, they will keep on breaking; so have them all replaced. No big deal.

Eventually you may have to replace the wheel, but you should be able to get several thousand more miles out of it.

Ditto, just fix the spoke. I bought a bike with crap wheels, and I just replaced spokes until I got to about #14 in a year. Then I gave up, bought a new rim (Mavic something, MA3 I think) DT butted spokes and sat down with Sheldon Brown's wheelbuilding page and had an interesting evening. That wheel never broke a spoke, the axle finally broke about 12000 miles and 3 years later.

I'd replace the wheel. No reason to deal with broken spokes.

If you choose to replace the spoke, have the wheel correctly tensioned. If spokes continue to break, have the wheel rebuilt with new spokes or replace the wheel.

When built correctly, a wheel will last much longer than that, even if the individual components are relatively low-end.

In my case, I'm convinced that the reason the spokes kept breaking was that the spokes where way too loose. They broke at the elbow, and that probably means that every time I put power to the wheel, half the spokes tensioned and the other half went slack. When the power goes away at the dead spots in the pedal stroke, the ones that were slack slam back to tension. It beats on the elbow part of the spoke.

When I built my own wheels, I took a friend's advice and cranked the tension as high as I could without stripping the outside of the nipple with the spoke wrench, including leaning on the wheel to get them a little tighter. Neither of the wheels that I built have ever broken a spoke or gone out of true in the slightest, despite me riding 8 miles a day over potholed and washboarded gravel for thousands of miles.

For one spoke, I'd replace the spoke. When a 2nd one breaks, it is time for a new build/wheel. You most likely just keep breaking spokes. If it was my bike, I'd get the broken spoke fixed and keep the wheel as a backup. Buy a new wheel, it sounds like you'd be able to get a new comparable wheel for about the same price it would be to having that one rebuilt.

I probably would not buy the wheel at the place you bought your bike. I am guessing that the wheel was not properly tensioned or built. I would not expect a new wheel from this place to be any better. Going to Peter White would be a good idea. You will know that you are getting a quality wheel that will last a very long time. You also get his guarantee about broken spokes or truing. They will cost more than a decent factory built wheel, but you shouldn't have any concerns with any wheel he builds you. And if for some reason you do break a spoke on one of his wheels, you have your back up until you can get your wheel back.

So, I decided to go with a rebuild on my hub with a new rim and spokes. This is a shop that I trust, but not the shop where I bought the bike. They're going to use DT double-butted spokes and brass nipples for some strength. This should result in a quality wheel without putting the $400 or more into a new wheel set from Peter. I just can't justify that kind of cash at the moment. Only down side of this approach is that I still get a 32 spoke wheel instead of being able to move up to a 36.

at least you're back on the road

I'm 6'5" and 235 lbs - kept breaking spokes and finally got a tandem rim put on my back wheel. Haven't had a broken spoke since. We've got terrible potholes and rough pavement around here and that, combined with my size, meant that a conventiional wheel simply wasn't strong enough.

Only 2?! Consider yourself lucky! ;-) I would anyway. I've been having broken spoke issues, but as a serious clyde, I think that the wheel just isn't up to par. At 170, I think I'd have just replaced the spoke and gone on my merry way.

Hope the new wheel works out for you, though!