Lifetime of spokes?

"Steve McDonald" wrote in message
...

Regardless of the cause of broken spokes, unless you learn to
replace and properly adjust them yourself, your money and time will
continue to be depleted by trips to bike shops.

If you fix the cause of broken spokes, they won't break anymore. After stress
relieving, you won't break many spokes unless you put a stick or chain into
them. In 40K+ miles, I've broken perhaps 2 spokes that weren't chain nicked,
and I weigh 235.

I always carry several
spare spokes taped to the frame and immediately replace broken ones with
the tools from my emergency repair kit. Riding on a wheel with a broken
spoke will stress the remaining spokes next to it and may lead to them
also breaking before long. It's also damaging to the rims and hubs to
run on an out-of-true wheel and will wear out a tire much faster.

Surely not in the time it takes to ride home?

Peter Cole wrote:

If you fix the cause of broken spokes, they won't break anymore. After
stress relieving, you won't break many-------
_____________________________________

In a theoretical world, all bicycle parts would be the best quality
and would be installed and adjusted by experts. Spokes would last for
many years and the need to replace them would be no more common than
courteous motorists.

In our real world, many wheels will not be perfectly assembled and
spokes will break and need replacing. Sometimes, if a wheel has been
stressed by a mishap or by being used while poorly adjusted, even an
expert adjustment won't prevent broken spokes.

My number one bike has gone 4 years on 36-spoke wheels without a
single broken one. I loosened, then evenly and tightly readjusted them
when it was new and have gotten good results. But, on other bikes and
wheels, I have had broken spokes regularly, despite my best efforts at
adjustment. My large size and towing of heavy trailers was a major
cause of this. Even though I have had good luck recently, I would be
foolish to not expect broken spokes at any time and to be prepared to
replace them on the road. Often, I am 30 miles from home on a workout
and riding that far on a crooked wheel would cause some damage. When
one broken spoke is soon followed by others, I think the continuing
problem is often caused by damage to the adjacent spokes and rim, when
the bike is ridden some distance before a spoke is replaced.

Steve McDonald

In article 9xSWa.50014$YN5.39085@sccrnsc01,
says...
"Chris Neary" wrote in message
...
Sure, but I don't think bicycle spokes are made from those alloys. Do you?


Well, what are they made of?

I'm guessing a 410 martensitic alloy or similar, which has a number of
corrosion failure modes at room temperature.

I've not heard any reports of corrosion in stainless steel spokes, not even
here in New England, where winter riding is quite a salty experience. I'm also
a sailor, and haven't seen stainless corrosion there either. I'm guessing
whatever alloys are being used for bike spokes, they're not susceptible to
corrosion.

At least not at ambient temperatures.

--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

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"303squadron" wrote in message ...

Did it break at the elbow ?


that the stainless steel the spokes are made of is starting to "crystalize"

One LBS told me that galvanized spokes don't crystalize
like stainless steel. I suspect they just made more money
on glavanized spokes. :-(


think the problem was caused by looseness of some spokes. Suggested fix was

You can read articles at www.sheldonbrown.com, read the faq,
search google groups for discussions fo spokes.

I bought a new (cheap) wheel from Bicycle Specialties in
Toronto. I specifically asked them to tension and true the
wheel. They said it was fine. After two weeks I was breaking
spokes (they were pretty loose to begin with). The flexing
tends to cause problems. Also, loose spokes allow the nipple to
unscrew, aggravating the existing lack of tension.

Speaking of which, I've replaced the two broken spokes and
tensioned the wheel, and I'm wondering if I should replace ALL
the spokes, since they were ridden loose. Intuitively, they'll
just keep breaking.


to re-spoke the wheel (~$50) or buy a new wheel (~$70) or just fix the
spokes as they break (~$10 labor total plus 66 cents for each spoke). For
now, I'm doing the last.

Paying someone to replace one spoke at a time is an expensive
way to go. In my limited experience, unless there's specific damage,
e.g. cuts from the chain wedging between the large cog and the spokes,
they will just keep breaking one after t'other.


If you replace spokes yourself, it's a nuisance but just costs
time and $1 for a spoke.

If you can buy a decent wheel for $70 (properly tensioned,
good quality hub) it seems a better choice than paying $50
to rebuild the old wheel (old hub and rim). You can always
tinker with the old wheel yourself. It's a useful skill.

hth

"Steve McDonald" wrote in message
...

My number one bike has gone 4 years on 36-spoke wheels without a
single broken one. I loosened, then evenly and tightly readjusted them
when it was new and have gotten good results. But, on other bikes and
wheels, I have had broken spokes regularly, despite my best efforts at
adjustment.

Doesn't sound like you're stress relieving your spokes. As I said earlier, if
you do that, you won't break spokes from fatigue.

"David Kerber" wrote in message
...
In article 9xSWa.50014$YN5.39085@sccrnsc01,
says...

I've not heard any reports of corrosion in stainless steel spokes, not
even
here in New England, where winter riding is quite a salty experience. I'm
also
a sailor, and haven't seen stainless corrosion there either. I'm guessing
whatever alloys are being used for bike spokes, they're not susceptible to
corrosion.

At least not at ambient temperatures.

Who uses spokes in "non-ambient" temperatures?

"Chris Neary" wrote in message
...

The key clue in failure in question may very well be the surface scratch,
which could two possible contributing factors:

1) Temporarily removed the protective oxide layer which makes stainless
steels, "stainless"; and

2) Locally concentrated stresses.

Without seeing the spoke in question this is all just speculation,
obviously.


There was no "spoke in question". All this is just somebody's hypothetical. My
point was that I have never seen the "spoke in question" (corroded stainless
steel), and if I haven't by now, I don't expect to in the future. I think it
is an invented problem.

On Sat, 02 Aug 2003 18:17:44 GMT, Chris Neary
wrote:

1) Temporarily removed the protective oxide layer which makes stainless
steels, "stainless"; and

Really?

Guy
===
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"mark freedman" wrote in message
m...
"303squadron" wrote in message
...


You can read articles at www.sheldonbrown.com, read the faq,
search google groups for discussions fo spokes.

I bought a new (cheap) wheel from Bicycle Specialties in
Toronto. I specifically asked them to tension and true the
wheel. They said it was fine. After two weeks I was breaking
spokes (they were pretty loose to begin with). The flexing
tends to cause problems. Also, loose spokes allow the nipple to
unscrew, aggravating the existing lack of tension.

If you read the FAQ yourself, you'll see that the main reason spoke fail is
from residual stresses. Stress relieving the spokes is the only way to
eliminate this problem.

1) Temporarily removed the protective oxide layer which makes stainless
steels, "stainless"; and

Really?

Yep.

On exposure to air, a layer of chromium oxide forms on stainless steel. This
compound is extremely corrosion resistant.

If it is removed (by grinding or similar means), corrosion of the stainless
could occur before the layer is reestablished.

Chemical treatments are often used to promote high quality oxide layers on
stainless steels. Ref:
http://www.eng-tips.com/gviewthread..../404/qid/64445



Chris Neary


"Science, freedom, beauty, adventu what more could
you ask of life? Bicycling combined all the elements I
loved" - Adapted from a quotation by Charles Lindbergh