3 different lengths of spokes?

[SD2006]

I asked the guys at my LBS about replacing the worn out hub in the front wheel of my mtn bike. They told me I'd need 3 different lengths of spokes to re-lace the wheel, and it'd be best to simply replace the whole thing. When I got home I took a good look at my wheel and saw no reason all spokes could not be the same length. I got my skinny tape measure out and sure enough, all 32 spokes measure 10-3/8" from inside the rim to the hole in the hub. The LBS folks are pretty sharp, but my wheel seems to contradict their expertise. What am I missing?

 

[531Aussie]

hmmm.........that does sound strange, especially for a front wheel, but I don't work in a bike shop.

What brand and model of rim is it, and what hub are you gunna use?

I'll plug them into my spoke calculators and see what happens.

 

[artmichalek]

Are you sure he wasn't talking about re-spoking both front and rear? Unless you have some oddball lacing pattern, there shouldn't be three spoke lengths. Even with disc brakes there are only two. It's beside the point anyway since you don't really need to replace the spokes along with the hub, and if they did, the amount of work involved has nothing to do with the number of spoke lengths. It sounds like the shop is just either unable or unwilling to rebuild the wheel.

 

[531Aussie]

....or there could've been a mix up when they said "3-cross spoke pattern"

???

 

[alfeng]

I asked the guys at my LBS about replacing the worn out hub in the front wheel of my mtn bike. They told me I'd need 3 different lengths of spokes to re-lace the wheel, and it'd be best to simply replace the whole thing. When I got home I took a good look at my wheel and saw no reason all spokes could not be the same length. I got my skinny tape measure out and sure enough, all 32 spokes measure 10-3/8" from inside the rim to the hole in the hub. The LBS folks are pretty sharp, but my wheel seems to contradict their expertise. What am I missing?

You can have the bearings [with-or-without new cups & cones, as necessary] OR cartridge bearings replaced ... that should be less expensive (and, faster) than re-lacing the wheels onto new hubs.

 

[SD2006]

Are you sure he wasn't talking about re-spoking both front and rear? Unless you have some oddball lacing pattern, there shouldn't be three spoke lengths. Even with disc brakes there are only two. It's beside the point anyway since you don't really need to replace the spokes along with the hub, and if they did, the amount of work involved has nothing to do with the number of spoke lengths. It sounds like the shop is just either unable or unwilling to rebuild the wheel.

I think that's it, he assumed I was talking about both hubs. The guy I first talked to about my hub wasn't the one who said I needed 3 spoke lengths. It was a different employee who chimed in and maybe didn't hear my original question.

As luck would have it, after spending $100 and many hours on a major cleaning / tune-up, I've discovered my bike ('95 GT Backwoods) is starting to fall apart. I found a crack in the frame and two compounding cracks in the right side crank arm. So..... I'm not all that concerned about the hub anymore.