one monkey typing

I broke the spoke in position 32 last night. Only one factory spoke left on the rear drive side/trailing positions.

Previously 20, 24, 28, 8, 12, 4 have broken.

Odometer: 789 miles - yes, the miles are going on very slowly this winter. I've succumbed to saying "screw it, I'm driving" just because it's -10*F out a lot this winter.

This week's broken spoke is spoke #20, another drive side/trailing edge spoke. Only three more to go before all the stock spokes in that position have snapped. None of the replacements (Wheelsmith) have broken. The first break was at 163 miles, the second at 270, so both of those replacements have more miles on them than the first one when it broke. If I reach 1000 miles without breaking any replacements, I'll put it down to just garbage spokes. If any of the replacements break, I'll tear the wheel down and relace it with new spokes.

This one broke on Thursday on my way to work. They make a significant PING when they break. With the disc brakes I can just let them slide until the weekend when I can work on them in daylight.

previously: 24, 28, 8, 12 have broken

Odometer: 475 miles

This week's broken spoke is #28
They're all drive side/trailing, so it's a possibility that it'll stop at 8 broken spokes. If I start re-breaking spokes that I've installed (that I know are of good quality) then I'll probably tear down and re-lace the wheel.

The water sticking to the ground this evening is already somewhat crunchy and the forecast is for 28*F by morning, so the studded tires went on the new bike this evening.

And in the process, I found that there's already a broken spoke, at 163 miles. That's poor even for a crap bike, I expected more from a $1100 bike. I guess I'll retension the spokes after I replace that one. I may have trouble finding a replacement locally, it's a 266mm spoke, quite short due to the IG hub. So I went on Amazon and ordered a 50 pack of black Wheelsmith spokes from AE Bike, since I bet I'm going to break more of them.

Odometer: 163 miles
Nashbar Streetwise tires off (total miles 140)
Nokian Hakkapeliitta W240s on (unknown miles, 3rd season)

OK, I finally bought a package of spokes, and went through and replaced all the ones that I'd previously replaced with not-quite-the-right-sized spokes before (none of the local bike shops seem to really stock spokes in a proper variety of sizes).

It's now obvious that I built the thing with the tension too low. The spokes that were broken were (counting from the valve hole in the direction of rotation): #4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 17.

So apart from that one #17, it was more than half the trailing edge spokes on the non-drive side. All broken at the elbow. As people have told me, this means that the tension is too low, and every time I push, particularly up hills which I have plenty of, it takes the stress OFF the trailing edge spokes, then hammers the stress back on again as my stroke bottoms out. Probably made worse because I'm not using clipless pedals so my stroke tends to be slower, more power, and more cyclic than if I were clipped in and spinning.

So anyway, I marked the replaced spokes with a small sticky dot inside the rim under the liner so I can keep track of what's breaking, and I'm going to retrue and retension, but this time I'll use this article in addition, since I don't want to go out and buy a tensiometer.

http://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/tension.htm

It seems like this method should be very accurate; the ear can hear differences that would be difficult to measure. We'll see what happens.

Aren't learning experiences fun?

Speaking of spokes, here's a funny pic

One thing's for sure; with the current condition of the roads that I'm riding on, if any spoke gets weak due to cyclic stress, it's going to break. Jesus they're getting rough. It's like having someone pound the bottom of the seat with a sledgehammer a few dozen times a ride. I'm even hoping for snow to fill in the potholes. I also find myself wishing the roads got paved, though I don't expect to see that for many years.

I'm going to try to build a truing stand and a dish tool today (or at least, soon). I've been doing it on the bike on a car rack, but it occurs to me that I won't want to stand in the snow this winter truing a damn wheel, so I better have some indoor alternative.

I've kinda decided to not ride if there's a chance of rain and it's cold (AKA until about April). We're into the season where the kids bring home every germ in the universe; I'm on my 2nd cold in 2 weeks and wimped out Thu/Fri due to rain.

Check this out:


(click for larger image)