This bike, I love this bike, but when it is working, and most of the time, it isnt, the spokes on the rear wheel just wont stay there, those ones are the second set I bought
The first set were the original ones, mild steel, I broke 15 spokes, in ten months, and now those are loose, but still there, progress I guess, I dont know how to prevent them from grenading themselves
Im a fairly heavy guy, 105kg and ride decently fast, 25-29 kmh average, and the roads are admittedly not the best, but I cant keep the bike if I need to ride it at 10kmh
Those are 38mm tyres and I ride with 42-45psi, and very recently I installed an anti puncture tape there because I got 4 pops and 2 entire tubes in those same 10 months, the rims are ~45mm deep, the manufacturer says those are double walled
Is there any way I can keep my bike rideable reliably? Deeper dish rim? Carbon or titanium spokes? Lower pressures? Bigger tyre? Anything to make it more dependable? Carbon rims?
Thi bike has been driving me insane, I love it, but every fucking week it breaks, 99% of the time its the rear wheel grenading itself
byu/Individual-Ad-3484 inbikewrench
by Individual-Ad-3484
11 Comments
Buy a spoke wrench and learn to true wheels
A great wheel builder can make wheels with mediocre components stay true for a long, long time.
A mediocre wheel builder can make a wheel with the best components available go out of true very, very fast.
In your shoes, I’d spend a bit of time in the local active cyclist grapevine in order to find your local wheel building expert and have your wheel trued by that individual.
Have you considered just buying new wheels?
Elite wheels even has a 5 spoke monocoque wheel that never needs truing.
It’s not the bike, but rather the old, worn out wheels.
(If price is an issue- check out pandapodium for high quality Chinese wheel sets)
Hi. Any info on thw bike and wheels?
Your spokes are probably not tight enough. You can learn how to tighten them properly (great skill to have) or take it to a LBS. A properly trued wheel will last a long time no matter what. If it’s too loose, it will loose its tension a lot faster.
Spokes are definitely too loose on the drive side. Wheel needs to be properly retensioned. That’s at a proffesional level with a spoke tensionmeter. If the wheel then gives problems again then you need a better wheelset. A higher profile rim creates more stiffness and therefore less stress on the spokes.
Side note:
It’s very important for a new wheelset to let it check after a few hundred kilometers (a few months). The spokes need to work together (equal and balanced spoke tension) in order to keep a strong wheel for the long run. If you keep all the spokes in check the wheel will last much longer.
When you’re heavier, the rear wheel takes so much more punishment. I’d consider replacing it entirely with a much sturdier one. And yes, maybe lowering tyre pressure will help, if you’re going as high as 45psi that will transfer more shock into the wheel
Spokes that aren’t tensioned properly are weak spots. Untrue wheels/ improperly trued wheels are weaker.
Also… consider upgrading your wheels?
Like most of the comments say, the spokes aren’t tensioner. Though, I was in the same boat as you right now with me breaking 8 spokes in the first 1.5years of owning my bike, and even with constant truing by my mechanic at the lbs, they would still come untrue every other week and got annoying really fast.
I didn’t have a budget for a new wheelset so I went ahead with what my mechanic said, and allowed him to relace the entire wheel with some pillar double butted spokes, and since then, wheel hasn’t gone out of tension or true even once.
I recommend you true the wheels first, and if they don’t stay under tension or remain true, upgrade to some double butted spokes from a reputable company, or buy a nice wheelset
Get a professional to look at it. They could bring the wheel up to higher, balanced tension that would keep the wheel in true and problem free.
The spokes weren’t up to tension to begin with, so they were bending more and breaking. It could also help to have thread-locking compound on the spokes, which factory builds rarely have.
Your spokes break regularly?
Cut the losses, get a nice and sturdy new set of wheels, next time buy a bike that’s more expensive because it’s got better wheels.
That usually where companies cheap out first