Faulty spoke nipple?

[just us]

Could not believe my luck when I was riding home the other day - all of a
sudden back brake was sticking and my wheel was totally warped
Walked the bike home and found that a nipple had broken just below where you
put the screwdriver (yeah I know - very technical). Anyway, that cancelled
out my weekend of a 2 day 200km ride and I took it on the back of the car to
LBS to be told it must have been a faulty ???? nipple. They trued the wheel
up and it is great again. Question is - do I trust the rest now? Bike has
only done 2000kms, Trek 7500 new in December and I am about to do a long
distance ride. This "true the wheel up" business is way beyond my
capabilities. Is this a common thing? How do I know the others wont break?

 

[Joel Mayes]

On 2007-03-07, just us <[email protected]> wrote:
> Could not believe my luck when I was riding home the other day - all of a
> sudden back brake was sticking and my wheel was totally warped
> Walked the bike home and found that a nipple had broken just below where you
> put the screwdriver (yeah I know - very technical). Anyway, that cancelled
> out my weekend of a 2 day 200km ride and I took it on the back of the car to
> LBS to be told it must have been a faulty ???? nipple. They trued the wheel
> up and it is great again. Question is - do I trust the rest now? Bike has
> only done 2000kms, Trek 7500 new in December and I am about to do a long
> distance ride. This "true the wheel up" business is way beyond my
> capabilities. Is this a common thing? How do I know the others wont break?

You don't...

But, the chances are they won't, If you do start breaking a lot of
spokes (i.e. three or four in a couple of months) the LBS should
rebuild the wheel under waranty.

If you're doing overnight rides it would be worthw hile learning how to
true a wheel, it really not that hard. and spare spokes are only a
dollar a pop.

Cheers

Joel

 

[AndrewJ]

On Mar 8, 12:02 am, Joel Mayes <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 2007-03-07, just us <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Could not believe my luck when I was riding home the other day - all of a
> > sudden back brake was sticking and my wheel was totally warped
> > Walked the bike home and found that a nipple had broken just below where you
> > put the screwdriver (yeah I know - very technical). Anyway, that cancelled
> > out my weekend of a 2 day 200km ride and I took it on the back of the car to
> > LBS to be told it must have been a faulty ???? nipple. They trued the wheel
> > up and it is great again. Question is - do I trust the rest now? Bike has
> > only done 2000kms, Trek 7500 new in December and I am about to do a long
> > distance ride. This "true the wheel up" business is way beyond my
> > capabilities. Is this a common thing? How do I know the others wont break?
>
> You don't...
>
> But, the chances are they won't, If you do start breaking a lot of
> spokes (i.e. three or four in a couple of months) the LBS should
> rebuild the wheel under waranty.
>
> If you're doing overnight rides it would be worthw hile learning how to
> true a wheel, it really not that hard. and spare spokes are only a
> dollar a pop.
>
> Cheers
>
> Joel


If you don't want to sit by the road and attempt to fix spoke by
torchlight, learn how
to adjust the brakes really loose. I've ridden home many kms on a
warped wheel.

 

[just us]

Proud to say I carry extra spokes in my handlebar - along with the nipples.
Proud also to say that I know how to loosen off my brakes, but am not proud
to say that I cant imagine having a go at truing the wheel up. Gawd it was
so warped! Ridden home on a warped wheel is one thing but when there is
400kms between towns and those towns are too small for a LBS then you really
start wondering dont u?
Kathy

 

[Joel Mayes]

On 2007-03-08, just us <[email protected]> wrote:
> Proud to say I carry extra spokes in my handlebar - along with the nipples.
> Proud also to say that I know how to loosen off my brakes, but am not proud
> to say that I cant imagine having a go at truing the wheel up. Gawd it was
> so warped! Ridden home on a warped wheel is one thing but when there is
> 400kms between towns and those towns are too small for a LBS then you really
> start wondering dont u?
> Kathy

Yep!

If you're in Melbourne come down to the CERES bike shed one Friday or
Saturday (except for tomorrow we're closed for the long weekend) and
we'll teach you how to do it.

Cheers

Joel

 

[just us]

Alas I live in Far North Qld - but thanks anyway Joel. I wonder if anyone in
Cairns does these sort of excersises?
"Joel Mayes" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On 2007-03-08, just us <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Proud to say I carry extra spokes in my handlebar - along with the
>> nipples.
>> Proud also to say that I know how to loosen off my brakes, but am not
>> proud
>> to say that I cant imagine having a go at truing the wheel up. Gawd it
>> was
>> so warped! Ridden home on a warped wheel is one thing but when there is
>> 400kms between towns and those towns are too small for a LBS then you
>> really
>> start wondering dont u?
>> Kathy
>
> Yep!
>
> If you're in Melbourne come down to the CERES bike shed one Friday or
> Saturday (except for tomorrow we're closed for the long weekend) and
> we'll teach you how to do it.
>
> Cheers
>
> Joel

 

[Blue Heeler]

just us wrote:

> Alas I live in Far North Qld - but thanks anyway Joel. I wonder if
> anyone in Cairns does these sort of excersises?

Alas, if I still lived in Cairns I would happily teach you.

But as I'm working on the Sunshine coast for the next few months, it
isn't possible.

 

[John Henderson]

just us wrote:

> Proud to say I carry extra spokes in my handlebar - along with
> the nipples. Proud also to say that I know how to loosen off
> my brakes, but am not proud to say that I cant imagine having
> a go at truing the wheel up. Gawd it was so warped! Ridden
> home on a warped wheel is one thing but when there is 400kms
> between towns and those towns are too small for a LBS then you
> really start wondering dont u? Kathy

Replacing a broken spoke can be tricky as you may need to remove
the freewheel/cassette to feed the new one into the hub. But
if you can get that far, and only a single spoke is broken,
then you should be able to get the wheel at least reasonably
true by tensioning up just that one spoke. When the wheel's as
true as it will get by adjusting that one spoke, then it's at
its correct tension (relative to the others). Sometimes no
further truing is needed - you may be surprised at how
effective this is.

I presume the nipple that broke is a standard nickel-plated
brass one, rather than a light-weight aluminium alloy one. If
so, then the breakage is probably a result of a one-off
manufacturing defect. Aluminium nipples I'd have less
confidence in, especially on a touring bike.

John

 

[Joel Mayes]

On 2007-03-08, just us <[email protected]> wrote:
> Alas I live in Far North Qld - but thanks anyway Joel. I wonder if anyone in
> Cairns does these sort of excersises?

Not that I know of, but Cairns BUG would be the people to ask
http://www.cairnsbug.org/

Cheers

Joel