SaiKaiTai

OK, so last week was no fun... went to take out the Kaitai, had a busted spoke.
Took out the Reno, got a flat and then, a couple of days later, my pedal broke.
Not a good run, there

Got that all sorted out and, what with all this "Tour Fever", busted spoke business, new pedals, and new tires, the LeMond has been getting a lot of saddle time over the past couple of weeks.

Last night, I heard the call.. it was time to take the Fisher out to eat some dirt!
Rolled it out to pump up the tires and give it its pre-ride once-over and I hear "plink tink plink tink"
Wow, that sounds like I still have a busted spoke. Check the rear, the rear look good.
Pick up the front, give the wheel a spin and "plink tink plink tink". Sure enough, there it is aNOTHer busted spoke. I'm guessing I missed it in all the concern over the rear.

Man, this sucks.
Then again, it's why one keeps multiple bikes. I just went ahead and took the LeMond out again.

But what's with all these busted spokes?
I have none in over a year of riding and then two at the same time? The bike is cursed!

Well, I'm not taking it back to the same LBS... where can I buy spokes?

BluesDawg

Don't just replace the spokes that break. Retension all the spokes. You may need to replace them all and rebuild the wheel.

maddmaxx 

If you know how long then you can buy them at Nashbar, Jenson USA, Performance or Cambria on line.
If you don't know how long then you can buy them in the same places but you got to figure out how long.

guybierhaus

For one spoke you will do best to go to the LBS. Most of the online sales are for a bunch of spokes, like a pak of 14, or 17, sometimes 50. The problem is you have to know the length. If wheel doesn't appear untrue, I'd remove wheel, tire and tube and carry wheel to LBS to get correct length. Spoke should be about $1. You can take spoke home and install yourself. Actually I suppose if it broke at an end, just remove and take the spoke in. If it broke at the nipple, you may wish to get a nipple also, unless you can get the broken piece removed from the nipple. The LBS may want to true the wheel, which is why I mentioned if it looks ok, your don't have to. Quite possible for one spoke to break and wheel remain true. Tighten new spoke to same ping as existing spokes.

SaiKaiTai

All the spokes?
I took the rear into my LBS and I won't go back there... man, if DnvrFox wants to see bad customer service, that would be the place to go AND he charged my $25 to change the spoke and -supposedly- true the wheel (he didn't do a great job of it... just really didn't want to be bothered).

I'm looking into what size I need now... I have an old truing stand, can't wait to dig it out again

markf

Colorado Cyclist, Nashbar, and probably a bunch of other places will pick the right spoke length for you if you include hub type, cross pattern, number of spokes, rim make and model/size, and front/rear. I've had good luck this way over the years.

Get good stainless steel double butted spokes, a good quality rim (offset spoke holes if it's a rear rim), a copy of Jobst Brandt's "The Bicycle Wheel" and build your own wheel.

SaiKaiTai

Frisco, CO, huh? Fancy that.

I was IMing Nashbar and they were asking me those same questions. To what avail, I'm not sure since they only have one length in stock. At any rate, not having the bike available to me here at work, I couldn't answer those questions. They carry 14/15/14 gauge in stock. Sounds double-butted to me.
Gary Fisher shows them as straight 14s so I don' know that Nashbar will be the way to go.
Meanwhile, I've emailed Trek/Gary Fisher to see what length they should be.

I still don't know why they should be breaking.

BSLeVan

Sounds to me the the Lemond is busy at night breaking spokes and letting the air out of tires. Some bikes just want all of the attention, and it's best to give it to them.

SaiKaiTai

Yeah, something told me that the LeMond was going to be a high maintenance ride... Well, I have no problems giving it the attention it craves and wait until I get the Brooks on it, it'll need at least 200 or 300 miles on it after that just to start settling in.

At any rate, I figure, it's TdF time - I have to ride my Reno... it's the right thing to do.

Meanwhile, taking a tip from the 'Dawg, I checked out AE Bikes... I had no idea there were so many different spoke makers out there. Who's good? Who isn't? I guess Wheelsmith can't be a bad way to go... even if they do sell the spokes and nipples separately.

maddmaxx 

If your breaking spokes a lot at the hub end then chances are that the tension is too low.

This can be the principal disadvantage of inexpensive machine built wheels.

Building wheels from scratch can be a lot of fun and very rewarding but the amount of time it takes to really do it well makes puppies look low maintenance

Once you start to break multiple spokes on one wheel its safe to assume that the others are damaged also.

SaiKaiTai

Actually, one in the front and one in the rear...
Is there a definition for "hub end"? The spokes are breaking more toward the middle but definitely with "hub tendencies"

I've had my suspicions about my spoke tension for a while, really. Time for a new tool!
I've rebuilt a couple of wheels in my time and you ain't kidding... it's really tedious

curbtender

[QUOTE=guybierhaus;4920434]For one spoke you will do best to go to the LBS. Most of the online sales are for a bunch of spokes, like a pak of 14, or 17, sometimes 50. The problem is you have to know the length. If wheel doesn't appear untrue, I'd remove wheel, tire and tube and carry wheel to LBS to get correct length. Spoke should be about $1. You can take spoke home and install yourself. Actually I suppose if it broke at an end, just remove and take the spoke in. If it broke at the nipple, you may wish to get a nipple also, unless you can get the broken piece removed from the nipple. The LBS may want to true the wheel, which is why I mentioned if it looks ok, your don't have to. Quite possible for one spoke to break and wheel remain true. Tighten new spoke to same ping as existing spokes.[/QUOTE
Never had a spoke break and remain true. When might this happen?

bobbyahines

Regarding who is good and who is not, Peter White (of Peter White Cycles) has a particular opinion on the matter: https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/spokes.asp

-bobby

maddmaxx 

For a quick and dirty check of hub tension SKT pluck to F#. This is not in any way a final judgement but the rubbery flat sounding ones are too loose.

By at the hub end I ment at the elbow or bend where the spoke comes through the hub hole. If you are breaking spokes in the middle then either the spokes have been damaged or were defective to begin with. It is virtually impossible to break a good spoke with tension without inflicting major damage to the rest of the wheel. It is however possible to scrape a spoke on a rock or something and create a flaw from which failure can result. Look for scratches or stains in the middle of the spokes, examine the broken ones for stains around the break.

New spokes all around or new wheels if this is happening.

SaiKaiTai

Ahh.. the man speaks a language I understand Cool... I will definitely use that.
And I already have the reference tool. A few of them, actually.

Sure, I knew what you mean by "hub end".
The technology might have changed but the basic mechanics I am quite familiar with.
You can take the boy out of the shop...

Both spokes broke about 5, maybe 6 inches up from the hub.
Closer to the hub than to the rim but maybe equidistant from the hub to midspoke.
That qualify as near the hub? Dunno but I will take a good look around the broken ones and see what I see. Good thing the smallest bundle I've found for sale is 18 spokes.

Tom Bombadil

Sounds to me like my hexes on your bikes, to keep you from catching up to my longest ride, are working just as the witch who sold them to me said they would.

head_wind

There are lots of placed to look up spoke lengths, e.g.
https://www.excelsports.com/info.asp?page=9

Artkansas 

Don't forget your tuning fork.