Ritchey Wheel Spokes

Joe Gilmore said:

I have a set of Ritchey wheels with the rear being "OCR" (off center rear). These are the stock
wheels that came with this 2001 bike (last year they made them). My bike is a Schwinn Peloton
frame with Ultegra drivetrain.

Quoted message said:

On 3 occassions I've had a broken spoke (flat bladed spokes). Recently, my LBS recommended and
replaced the flat spokes with convention steel round spokes and he purposely laced them a
different way. Now, twice the same spoke has separated from the nipple even though it doe not seem
to be stripped.

Quoted message said:

Any ideas at all re where/how I could troubleshoot this problem further?

Where did you flat spokes break. If it was not in the flat part (or its transition) then "flat
spokes" was not your problem, and I doubt that it was. The reason why your spokes unscrewed is that
they were not tightened enough, a way that some folks think will prevent spoke failure... it won't.

I get the impression that this bicycle mechanic doesn't know what he is doing and is acting on myth
and lore of bicycling that is notoriously full of misconceptions. You could do all this yourself and
be an expert on it if you are able and willing to read. Many bicycle mechanics do neither. If you
look into this by reading "the Bicycle Wheel" that you can get from various sources including:

avocet.comwheelbook.htmlOpen ↗ tinyurl.com8yl8Open ↗
sheldonbrown.comharrisOpen ↗

Jobst Brandt [email hidden] Palo Alto CA

joegilmore-<< I have a set of Ritchey wheels with the rear being "OCR" (off center rear). These are
the stock wheels that came with this 2001 bike (last year they made them).

<< Recently, my LBS recommended and replaced the flat spokes with convention steel round spokes and
he purposely laced them a different way.

???

Loose or broken spokes means the tension is not equal around the wheel, generally meaning the rim is
warped, not round, flat any longer, often from a porr build.

<< Now, twice the same spoke has separated from the nipple even though it doe not seem to
be stripped.

Wheel needs to be tensioned, trued, rounded and dished and stress relieved...and then the teniosn
checked. If it is irregular around the wheel...need a new rim.

Unless the spoke batch is a 'bad one'(unlikely) I would look to the rim as the problem(from above
mentioned poor build), not the spokes.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

I had several spokes break on my Ritchey front wheel for no apparent reason. I contacted Ritchey and
they told me that they had a batch of OCR wheels built with defective spokes. Long story short; they
rebuilt my wheel with new spokes.

"Joe Gilmore" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I have a set of Ritchey wheels with the rear being "OCR" (off center rear). These are the stock
wheels that came with this 2001 bike (last year they made them).My bike is a Schwinn Peloton frame
with Ultegra drivetrain.

On 3 occassions I've had a broken spoke (flat bladed spokes). Recently, my LBS recommended and
replaced the flat spokes with convention steel round spokes and he purposely laced them a
different way. Now, twice the same spoke has separated from the nipple even though it doe not seem
to be stripped.

Any ideas at all re where/how I could troubleshoot this problem further?

I'll appreciate any thoughts/ideas you are willing to share.