Ok, I'm no lightweigt at 255 lbs. I've broken two spokes on my Trek Navagator 2.0 in the last two months. (bike is 13 months old). I just ride on the streets. My LBS says my size should not break spokes. I tend to disagree. Any thoughts?
wsommariva said:Ok, I'm no lightweigt at 255 lbs. I've broken two spokes on my Trek Navagator 2.0 in the last two months. (bike is 13 months old). I just ride on the streets. My LBS says my size should not break spokes. I tend to disagree. Any thoughts?
wsommariva said:Ok, I'm no lightweigt at 255 lbs. I've broken two spokes on my Trek Navagator 2.0 in the last two months. (bike is 13 months old). I just ride on the streets. My LBS says my size should not break spokes. I tend to disagree. Any thoughts?
Peter@vecchios said:Breaking spokes means the wheel is sick. The rim is now deformed and the tension erratic. The wheels that came on that bike are not suited for you. They need to at least build you a rear wheel more specific to you and your riding. 36 hole, appropriate rim, double butted spokes, built well.
dhk2 said:Peter, agree it's a better rim and better build that will do the trick, not just heavier straight-gauge spokes. Several people I know on Bontrager wheels have had problems with them. My opinion, perhaps unjustified, is that Trek is putting some pretty cheap and poorly-built wheels on bikes, even expensive Madones.
Peter@vecchios said:No, I don't mean it's a pretzel but 'mildly' deformed resulting in erratic(low) tension in spots that results in broken spokes. A heavier rim is what is needed, not necessarily beefier spokes, IMO, but I think we agree, not the wheel that comes standard on that bicycle.
Froze said:Ok, now I understand what you meant. Supposedly though, according to Bontrager, that the rim should have been strong enough, that's why I suspect the spokes. Regardless if the LBS will replace the rim then going with the Sun Rhyno which a inexpensive but very durable rim, combine that with the DT Alpine III and you got a heck of a strong rim for lower cost then trying to go with Mavic XC 717 for example. Fortunately the OP can get the wheel adjusted under warranty, we'll just have to wait to see if he can get a better, stronger rim with a trade in.
dhk2 said:tafi, appreciate that you included some figures on load and yield strength of a spoke in your discussion. But to consider only static loads doesn't seem sufficient, since real-world bumps can put several g's of load into the wheels. Thus the wheel in your example that's so slack as to put all the load on one spoke, would likely have a spoke failure in very short order after just a few bumps or minor potholes in the road.
Agree that the issue isn't straight-gauge vs DB spokes causing the weak wheel. But question your conclusion that all spokes are the same in load-carrying and thus wouldn't affect the durability of a well-built wheel. Seems to me that a 14 ga spoke (or 14/15/14 DB) will be stronger than a 15/16/15 in terms of ultimate yield strength, and thus have a longer fatigue life, assuming the quality of the spoke materials and processing equal.
Just discussing fine points here: Peter summed up the OPs problem well.
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