broken spoke...wtf?
 

I was riding home from work today for lunch and as I was riding along one of my spokes just broke right at the hub/nipple interface...no pothole no crack in the road.... the hub is fine which is a good thing but I think this gives me good reason to have the wheel relaced, cus I'm not so sure about the radial lacing anymore.....I still like the way it looks but I would rather have a wheel that functions properly than one that breaks spokes for no reason....any suggestions for new lacing patterns??

3x

3x, indeed

might I dare suggest 3 leading 3 trailing

i'd replace the one... if it happens again i'd think about a rebuild. i never had a front wheel go out of true without me really whacking something.

for a front i could care less, radial or 3x i just don't think you put enough force on them for it to really matter.

3x is the way to go. Strong, easy to fix, and even if you are stuck in east Podunk, the local mechanic will know how to fix it.

id love to do 3 leading 3 trailing but i will probably end up with 3x just for simplicity...need to call the LBS to see if they can do 3 leading 3 tailing and how much $$ it would run....

No big deal man. Replace the spoke and stress relieve the rest of them. Check out sheldon brown's site for details.

Break 1 spoke, replace it. Break 2 spokes, think about rebuilding wheel. Break 3 spokes, rebuild wheel.

Poor little spoke...sniff....why why? ... why didn't the other spokes see it coming, weren't there warning signs? they could have done something!

sounds like it was flawwed, maybe a saboteur even!

What precisely is 3 leading, 3 trailing?

http://www.minortriad.com/wheel.html

3x is the traditional build. There's not a lot of evidence to suggest that any other pattern is significantly superior in any respect.

Might I suggest that you check your spoke tension? Often broken spokes are a symptom of an under-tensioned wheel.

learning how to build your own wheels is a surefire way to save money, and maybe even scam some off of your friends, but access to a truing stand helps ( check your local bike collective) it's awesome, easy, fun, and kind of impressive...and then you won't have to rely on a mechanic in podunk, wherever you said....

-jason

but i've done some damage to my radial laced front wheel, no broken spokes though...give it another chance...

50x.

"screws fall out, the world's an imperfect place."

crow's foot. modified crow's foot assuming you're 32 hole.

The only spokes I've ever broken have been in a 3X wheel... I've never broken a radial spoke.

well I decided after breaking my first spoke that I would just replace it and see how it went from there.....so I was out on a ride this evening and once again what happens I break another spoke!! once again no pothole no crack in the road although I did ride on some grass to take a short cut earlier and the spoke just snaps... So it looks like I will be relacing the wheel...I've been wanting to learn and I figure that now is a perfect time considering that I should be doing it anyways.....any suggestions for spokes to get???