broke-a-spoke
Posted December 26, 2009 
Comments(7)
Comments(7) well this is the third spoke I’ve broken (fourth, actually – the first time it was a pair). the first time I think I hit a pothole, and the second time i fell over, but this morning I was just coming up the hill to our house in a low gear when I heard the infamous ‘snap’.
sigh. maybe I need to drop some pounds and try this again later in the season.
I ran into this problem a few years ago. When you break a spoke (or two, or three), the rest of the spokes take a lot of sudden extra pressure and become much more likely to break themselves.
I ran through about five spokes within a year and a half before my local shop suggested there was a manufacturer’s defect in the wheel. It was replaced for free (it was the same shop I bought the bike from.) May be worth checking out…
improperly built wheel from he factory. 1 spoke ok a fluke but 3 for such a new wheel is bad. wheel has low spoke tension and and are fatigued. check warranty with the shop. let me guess you are also hovering around 200lbs?? if yes then a proper wheel build is crucial. high and even tension.
200, I wish… happened again this morning. bike store owner told me the stock rims on the Giant Cypress are flimsy, that a higher-end bike would be more resilient.
also thinking that putting my backpack in a rear basket has exacerbated the problem. will probably throw loose stuff like clothes in the basket and go back to wearing the backpack for now (bummer)
well if the shop isnt going to help with warranty etc. then its time for a new wheel or rebuild of your current wheel. 4 spokes is a lot. a rebuild will cost around 30-40 for labor and about a dollar a spoke. most GOOD wheel builders will not reuse a rim either so you are looking at a new rim too. a nice mavic or velocity for the higher end or a sun cr18 or rhynolite, alex dm18 for the lower end. you might also be able to find new wheelsets online for cheap too. if the stock wheel has single walled rims i would just get another wheelset. might be able to fit a set of 29er wheels in the bike. im gonna guess you are paying the shop around 10 bucks for new spoke and labor. that rear wheel is going to be a money pit. ALL your current spokes are fatigued and could break. again improper tension from the factory or it was not checked by the shop when it was purchased.
thanks for your thoughts douglas. yes it’s a single-walled rim, that’s probably part of the problem. I’m inclined to replace the bike as I hate the gears anyway and have grown weary of the upright seating position – they say a new rear wheel could run 100-150
$20 per spoke, actually. sounds like I can get a new, somewhat stronger wheel for $100 so I should probably do that rather than plug the dyke…unless I give/sell the bike to someone much lighter.