I had a set of wheels build up, about 3 years ago. The shop builds plenty of wheels, and the
wheels were stress relieved. Mavic hubs, 36 thin double butted spokes, MA-2 in back, Torelli
Master in front.
Year one. During the first several months a rear spoke broke, but I forget which side. The shop
fixed it under warrantee. Several months later a second rear spoke broke, again I forget which side.
It was still under warrantee, but I paid the shop for the repair -- as the builder theorized that it
may have been because I dumped the bike once. Now I look more closely for manhole covers near
corners on wet roads. I retired the wheels for a year.
Year two. Didn't ride those wheels, as a mid 1980s Pinarello fell into my lap. Rode that instead. I
did bring the wheels into a renowned wheel builder at a different shop. He inspected them and
thought they were OK -- uniform tension and stress relieved. He didn't have much to offer about what
went wrong, as I didn't know which side the spokes broke on.
Year three. I've been riding those wheels again. Probably only 300 or so miles on them this year. A
spoke on the rear drive side broke, at the hub. I'm wondering if these are spokes that should have a
washer at each spoke head? I remember some talk in this ng several years ago about spokes being
built differently, and needing washers at the hub end. How can I find out if this is the case?
What's the best thing to do at this point?
Larry "New Tensiometer" Fieman.