Spoke quality

[DougC]

Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman wrote:
> Andrew Muzi of Yellow Jersey wrote:
>> ...
>> If you're interested in this area generally, 'The Bicycle Wheel' is
>> the definitive work.
>
> Unless one consumes Kentucky Bourbon or are from Wales, where the best
> wheels are built with low-tension galvanized spokes bent so they do not
> touch at the crossings.
>

I just received a Worksman bike a couple days ago, and noticed that the
rear spokes do not touch where they cross even though they appear to be
fairly-straight. Laced to a Shimano 3-speed hub, there is fully 1/16"
between them. This seems to be mainly due to the spokes being around .1"
thick.
~

 

[_]

On Sun, 08 Jul 2007 04:53:24 -0500, DougC wrote:

> Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman wrote:
>> Andrew Muzi of Yellow Jersey wrote:
>>> ...
>>> If you're interested in this area generally, 'The Bicycle Wheel' is
>>> the definitive work.
>>
>> Unless one consumes Kentucky Bourbon or are from Wales, where the best
>> wheels are built with low-tension galvanized spokes bent so they do not
>> touch at the crossings.
>>
>
> I just received a Worksman bike a couple days ago, and noticed that the
> rear spokes do not touch where they cross even though they appear to be
> fairly-straight. Laced to a Shimano 3-speed hub, there is fully 1/16"
> between them. This seems to be mainly due to the spokes being around .1"
> thick.
> ~

Surely it is due to the spokes not being interlaced during construction
rather than their thickness.

 

[Peter Cole]

Just A User wrote:
> I know this has probably been covered her before, but here it is again.
> This morning while out on a moderate intensity ride I heard a familiar
> /ping/ noise that I recognized as a spoke breaking. This is the third
> spoke I have broken in 2 years. Not what I would call a lot, but more
> than I would like. The wheels are inexpensive Alex R500, that came on my
> 2005 Fuji Ace. The bike isn't great, but good enough for me for now. So
> the question is are /aftermarket/ spokes higher quality? Worthwhile to
> rebuild the wheels with better spokes or just replace the one that
> broke? Should I learn to replace them myself? Or just drop the wheel off
> at the LBS and have them do it? I enjoy tinkering with bikes.
>
> Ken

If you enjoy it, by all means replace it yourself, it's not hard.

The only really important thing with spokes is that be "stress
relieved". See Sheldon Brown's site for details.

At his point, I'd just replace the broken spoke and stress relieve the
others and hope for the best, such inexpensive wheels are probably not
worth much bother and you're likely to get many trouble free miles from
them if they're stress relieved.

As an alternative to upgrading those wheels you might consider buying a
new set since those can often be had for substantially less than the
cost of the components to build them. Factory made wheels are often
under tensioned and virtually never stress relieved, but it's a simple
matter to fix those deficiencies with the result being reliable wheels.

 

[DougC]

?somebody? wrote:

>> I just received a Worksman bike a couple days ago, and noticed that the
>> rear spokes do not touch where they cross even though they appear to be
>> fairly-straight. Laced to a Shimano 3-speed hub, there is fully 1/16"
>> between them. This seems to be mainly due to the spokes being around .1"
>> thick.
>> ~
>
> Surely it is due to the spokes not being interlaced during construction
> rather than their thickness.

This is true, they're 2-cross but not interlaced.... I hadn't looked too
closely at a regular wheel to notice.

I got the bike to put a motor on anyway, and with some motor types
abrasion at the spoke crossings is frequently a cause of spoke failure
at that point anyway.
~

 

[Andy Froncioni]

On Jul 7, 11:01 am, Just A User <[email protected]> wrote:
> So
> the question is are /aftermarket/ spokes higher quality? Worthwhile to
> rebuild the wheels with better spokes or just replace the one that
> broke? Should I learn to replace them myself? Or just drop the wheel off
> at the LBS and have them do it? I enjoy tinkering with bikes.

I think your spoke tensions are too low. Spokes usually break due to
being
too loose, the resulting strains leading to metal fatigue. ( Jobst,
help us out
here! ) Cheap wheels are built using machines that don't attain
enough tension.

I would replace the remaining spokes because of the wear they've
probably
already lived through. But make sure you tension up the replacement
spokes
to a reasonable level.

 

[[email protected]]

Doug Cimper writes:

>>> ... If you're interested in this area generally, 'The Bicycle
>>> Wheel' is the definitive work.

>> Unless one consumes Kentucky Bourbon or are from Wales, where the
>> best wheels are built with low-tension galvanized spokes bent so
>> they do not touch at the crossings.

> I just received a Worksman bike a couple days ago, and noticed that
> the rear spokes do not touch where they cross even though they
> appear to be fairly-straight. Laced to a Shimano 3-speed hub, there
> is fully 1/16" between them. This seems to be mainly due to the
> spokes being around .1" thick.

To make them tough, they must be interleaved when lacing the spokes.
Coming from the inside and outside of the same flange, they don't
naturally make contact. If a spoke breaks, it is free to tangle with
the bicycle, not being restrained by a neighboring spoke.

Jobst Brandt

 

[jim beam]

[email protected] wrote:
> Doug Cimper writes:
>
>>>> ... If you're interested in this area generally, 'The Bicycle
>>>> Wheel' is the definitive work.
>
>>> Unless one consumes Kentucky Bourbon or are from Wales, where the
>>> best wheels are built with low-tension galvanized spokes bent so
>>> they do not touch at the crossings.
>
>> I just received a Worksman bike a couple days ago, and noticed that
>> the rear spokes do not touch where they cross even though they
>> appear to be fairly-straight. Laced to a Shimano 3-speed hub, there
>> is fully 1/16" between them. This seems to be mainly due to the
>> spokes being around .1" thick.
>
> To make them tough, they must be interleaved when lacing the spokes.

what's the mechanism for this? how is it differentiated from tying &
soldering?

> Coming from the inside and outside of the same flange, they don't
> naturally make contact. If a spoke breaks, it is free to tangle with
> the bicycle, not being restrained by a neighboring spoke.
>
> Jobst Brandt

 

[[email protected]]

Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman wrote:

> I wonder when Trevor Jeffrey will pop up again to war with Brandt?

Please, one nutjob at a time.

--

Spike Nettles

 

[[email protected]]

Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman wrote:

> I wonder when Trevor Jeffrey will pop up again to war with Brandt?

Please, one nutjob at a time.

--

Spike

 

[Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman]

Spike Nettles wrote:
> Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman wrote:
>
>> I wonder when Trevor Jeffrey will pop up again to war with Brandt?
>
> Please, one nutjob at a time.
>
> --
>
> Spike

Third time the charm?

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

 

[Jasper Janssen]

On 08 Jul 2007 17:34:04 GMT, [email protected] wrote:

>To make them tough, they must be interleaved when lacing the spokes.
>Coming from the inside and outside of the same flange, they don't
>naturally make contact. If a spoke breaks, it is free to tangle with
>the bicycle, not being restrained by a neighboring spoke.

So is lacing to make them tough, or to keep them from tangling when they
break (a laudable goal in itself)?

Jasper

 

[[email protected]]

Jasper Janssen writes:

>> To make them tough, they must be interleaved when lacing the
>> spokes. Coming from the inside and outside of the same flange,
>> they don't naturally make contact. If a spoke breaks, it is free
>> to tangle with the bicycle, not being restrained by a neighboring
>> spoke.

> So is lacing to make them tough, or to keep them from tangling when
> they break (a laudable goal in itself)?

Sorry about that. The sentence was intended to read:

To make them touch, they must be interleaved when lacing the spokes.
Coming from the inside and outside of the same flange, they don't
naturally make contact. If a spoke breaks, it is free to tangle with
the bicycle, not being restrained by a neighboring spoke.

This was in response to why the spokes didn't touch.

Jobst Brandt

 

[Just A User]

Just A User wrote:
> I know this has probably been covered her before, but here it is again.
> This morning while out on a moderate intensity ride I heard a familiar
> /ping/ noise that I recognized as a spoke breaking. This is the third
> spoke I have broken in 2 years. Not what I would call a lot, but more
> than I would like. The wheels are inexpensive Alex R500, that came on my
> 2005 Fuji Ace. The bike isn't great, but good enough for me for now. So
> the question is are /aftermarket/ spokes higher quality? Worthwhile to
> rebuild the wheels with better spokes or just replace the one that
> broke? Should I learn to replace them myself? Or just drop the wheel off
> at the LBS and have them do it? I enjoy tinkering with bikes.
>
> Ken

Follow up.

Thanks for all the advice. I dropped off the wheel at the LBS this
morning, then two hours later they called and said it was ready to be
picked up. And I bought 3 extra spokes for the next breaks. I gave the
shop where I bought the bike some business. They are worth supporting.

Ken

 

[Zog The Undeniable]

Just A User wrote:
> I know this has probably been covered her before, but here it is again.
> This morning while out on a moderate intensity ride I heard a familiar
> /ping/ noise that I recognized as a spoke breaking. This is the third
> spoke I have broken in 2 years. Not what I would call a lot, but more
> than I would like. The wheels are inexpensive Alex R500, that came on my
> 2005 Fuji Ace. The bike isn't great, but good enough for me for now. So
> the question is are /aftermarket/ spokes higher quality? Worthwhile to
> rebuild the wheels with better spokes or just replace the one that
> broke? Should I learn to replace them myself? Or just drop the wheel off
> at the LBS and have them do it? I enjoy tinkering with bikes.
>
The only spoke I've ever broken was a galvanized one in a set of cheap
machine-built wheels. I've never broken any on my own wheels, and I
always use DT Competition 2.0/1.8/2.0 (apart from a momentary aberration
when I used Revolution 2.0/1.5/2.0 for a front track wheel - it's my
favourite wheel of all, but it was a pig to tension with all the spoke
twist; I resorted to marking every spoke with sharpie to make sure it
was untwisted by the end).