Broken Spoke?
 

My friend Ben keeps popping a spoke on his rear wheel. He is just doing some casual 15-17 mph riding. It happened again just this morning while we were riding. Does anyone have any suggestions on what we should check?

Is it the front or rear wheel?
I would start by feeling/listening to the spokes as most time it is the spoke tension in the wheel that is off balance (the spokes are not saring the load properly).
All the spokes on the front wheel should feel and sound the same (equal tension on all spokes).
The drive (cassett) side of the rear wheel will feel stiffer (higher tension) and have a higher pitch (sound) the other side will have a softer feel and lower pitch (lower tension) for traditional rims (all the spoke holes in the middle of the rim) but for an OCR (off center rim) the tension should be similar to that of the front wheel.
Another problem could be spoke size vs the weight of rider but I'd take the wheel to a shop for that determination.

How old is his bike? Fatigue in the spokes starts rearing its ugly head after a certain number of wheel revolutions. Might be time for a new rear wheel, or to have the wheel rebuilt.

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On a cheaper set of wheels (say those that came stock on my '03 Sequoia Sport), how many miles does it take to fatigue the wheels? I've considering a set of Open Pro's and I'd love to be able to justify the purchase by claiming my current wheels are worn out :)

Well, it's hard to quantify, given the irregularities in road surfaces, but I started popping spokes on a 36 spoke mid-range vintage 1985 wheel after, I'd guess, 3000 miles. I rode mostly country roads, and weighed anywhere from 170 to 280 (amazing what happens when you stop exercising, get a desk job, etc.). For the most part, it stayed true during that time, and never got too untrue between broken spokes.

The $30, get-me-through-the-end-of-the-season wheel I get when my rear axle broke, though, didn't even make it through a hundred miles - it was all cattywhompus within a week of purchase. Don't make that mistake! I see people recommend the Open Pro/Ultegra hub combination a lot.

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