Paired spokes = swiss cheese

[anonymous-user]

I have a trek 1500 triple 2005

http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/2005/archive/...

Haven't managed to use it for a couple of years due to an accident/operation and got it out and dusted down & prepped it for a ride at the weekend.

I was close to home when one of the spokes on the rear wheel snapped. I'm not light, the bike hasn't been properly serviced for a couple years and I was putting some torque through the drive system as there are quite a few short sharp hills in my area. I'm not surpised it threw a spoke.

However the rear wheel went completely out of true and it was nearly impossible to get home. I had to release the rear brake in order to to allow the wheel to run freely. I've lost plenty of spokes on my MTB but as they are normally 3/4x patterns they have remained 100% rideable.

If you look at the link you can see that rear wheel has a minimal amount of paired spokes. I assuming that this would be the normal reaction to any wheel of this type that threw a spoke given the amount of force going through each individual spoke?

Seems like a pretty weak design imho and one I might want to change. If I get a new wheelset at somepoint.

In the mean time anyone got any recommendations for a LBS in/near Wimborne that could retrue and respoke this type of wheel (I'm new to the area and haven't yet got any local experience), any suggestions for a budget but reasonably good and traditional X-lace road wheelset would be apprieciated.

[Gooby]

A local lad!
Raised in Wimborne, now live in Bomo!

Take the wheel to Ride;
http://www.ridebike.co.uk/

They are trek dealers and all round top guys. The mechainic, Jon is an ex Team Orange mechanic and really knows his stuff and the owner, ritchie is just about the coolest bloke to draw breath. Excelent service, excelent products, excelent attitude!

Who knows, I may see you down there!

[anonymous-user]

Cheers Gooby just what I needed.

[craig_s]

A wheel's strength comes more from the build than the number or pattern of spokes. There's a good chance your wheels, like those that come with most bikes, were built by a machine. I'm pretty sure if you get the whole thing rebuilt by hand by someone who knows what they are doing, your wheel will be much much stronger. Wheel building isn't difficult, but doing it well is a hard act to master. I've tried and most attempts end with me wanting to throw the wheel out the window! It's fun though

[AyBee]

I have one of those Haven't had issues with the rear wheel though, although it does seem to be quite flexible under power, I tend to ride with the back brake eased off because the wheel isn't true though....should probably sort that out

[anonymous-user]

The wheel is inheriantly strong and I should have had it checked over more recently, I have had the spokes tested trued by hand before, I used to do this annually as part of commissioning services with my commuter bikes. But basically have been off both bikes for a couple years.

My main issue is that I just wasn't expecting the rim to go so far out of true with one spoke gone.

That means any failure of a spoke is near enough a show stopper with a minimal paired spoke wheel. From my perspective the margin is a bit too narrow, and it is not necessarily the ideal position on a relativity budget road bike and a casual rider. I've had two spokes go at once on the MTB with 120psi 1.0x26 slicks when dropping into a pot hole and the rim still stayed pretty much true and functioned well enough to get home with no trouble.

But there in lies the problem even though it's no carbon/Titanium monster it is still a fairly extreme and narrowily focused bike to begin with and perhaps I shouldn't expect too much of it.

[AyBee]

Mountain bikes tend to have more spokes, therefore holding the rim true in more places, the trend on road bikes seems to be towards fewer and fewer spokes, therefore meaning when one goes, you're bound to get more of a wobble unfortunately!

[Nick_F]

Funky spoke patterns make bike look more upmarket; they do deliver benefits, but matching the damage-resistance of more conventional designs isn't necessarily one of them.