A
Art Harris
Guest
Mike wrote:
> > > Usually I rebuild the wheel after the third spoke break because the last two usually occur pretty close together. That seems to happen around 18 months, with the first spoke break around 15 months.
> > Only a few possible reasons for multiple spoke breakage like that: Bad
> > batch of spokes, lack of proper stress relieving, or excess/uneven
> > spoke tension. You want the right side spokes to be just tight enough
> > so that the left side spokes don't go slack. One trick is to use
> > lighter gauge spokes on the left (e.g., 15-16-15) so that they will be
> > less likely to go slack for a given tension.
> I thought you wanted pretty high tension on the drive side. I really do
> need to read TBW. I've been greasing nipples and threads and getting
> things pretty tight. Not crazy tight, but certainly beyond what you
> describe.
They DO need to be "prety tight" to prevent the left side spokes from
going slack when riding over bumps and pot holes. But there's no
advantage to making them any tighter than that. With most 9/10 speed
wheels, the spoke tension on the right is about twice that on the left.
If you're pulling out eyelets, and breaking a lot of spokes, there's a
good chance the spokes are tighter than they need to be. Excess spoke
tension combined with residual stress in the elbow will increase
fatigue failure. A tensiometer is only way to determine actual
tension.
Art Harris
> > > Usually I rebuild the wheel after the third spoke break because the last two usually occur pretty close together. That seems to happen around 18 months, with the first spoke break around 15 months.
> > Only a few possible reasons for multiple spoke breakage like that: Bad
> > batch of spokes, lack of proper stress relieving, or excess/uneven
> > spoke tension. You want the right side spokes to be just tight enough
> > so that the left side spokes don't go slack. One trick is to use
> > lighter gauge spokes on the left (e.g., 15-16-15) so that they will be
> > less likely to go slack for a given tension.
> I thought you wanted pretty high tension on the drive side. I really do
> need to read TBW. I've been greasing nipples and threads and getting
> things pretty tight. Not crazy tight, but certainly beyond what you
> describe.
They DO need to be "prety tight" to prevent the left side spokes from
going slack when riding over bumps and pot holes. But there's no
advantage to making them any tighter than that. With most 9/10 speed
wheels, the spoke tension on the right is about twice that on the left.
If you're pulling out eyelets, and breaking a lot of spokes, there's a
good chance the spokes are tighter than they need to be. Excess spoke
tension combined with residual stress in the elbow will increase
fatigue failure. A tensiometer is only way to determine actual
tension.
Art Harris