BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

stop in at thick

@cburch Thanks. Not sure if I can do it tonight. Drove into work and brought my dog with me. (My office is cool!) He does well if left in the car, but on a day like this (sunny & over 65) its not good for him to be left in the car w/o the air conditioning on.

But I will stop by tomorrow.

@myddrin How many spokes have broken? Old school rules of thumb is that if two or three break you need to re-lace the wheel.

I'd at least check the tension on the spokes. A super low tech (and admittedly imprecise) way to do this is by spinning the wheel and listening to the ping as the spokes hit a thumbnail. If the tone is all about equal then you are pretty close but if the tone is high in some and low in others then you may have to adjust the tension and then true the wheel again. Sometimes, of course, you can tell by feel that a spoke is pretty slack in comparison to the others. Unequal tension will stress the spokes. (+1 for Thick. I'm sure you can get also get spokes at either of the shops in Squirrel Hill though they might try to get you to let them fix it.)

That was me that passed you on the way up - you've got to look out for your own. Unless they are fancy, I think you should be able to get spokes for a buck or so from any shop.

@jeffinpgh -- this is the third in the last (roughly) month. Re-lacing sounds beyond my ken, but I'm hesitant to leave my bike at a shop right now... given the closeness of my century ride. I'll definately check the tension on the spokes, and then see about getting it to the shop when I'm out of town in a couple of weeks. (Probably just schedule it when I'm @ Thick Bikes if people are recommending it.)

@bd -- I think you may be the first bike-pgh'er I've met in person! Thanks again.

West Liberty Cycles has a spoke cutter, should your spokes be of an odd size.

i would really recommend dropping your wheel off at a shop before riding a century on that wheel... three spokes in a few weeks is not a good sign, there is probably something really wrong with how things are tensioned and you putting spokes on with a limited understanding of how lacing wheels working is probably not helping (not insulting your lacing skills here, just basing that on what you've said). there are probably people on the board who would be able to do this in a day or two no problem, or at least just look at the wheel real quick and identify the problem. if thick doesn't have the turn around time for you iron city bikes in oakland isn't too far out of the way (its right off of the trail in schenely park) and have helped me with quick turnaround things like this no problem. i think i have a 135 single speed wheel that you can borrow for a day if you want.

i would really recommend dropping your wheel off at a shop before riding a century on that wheel... three spokes in a few weeks is not a good sign

+1

@mark Thanks for the offer. Definitely going to get it re-laced before the century, I was just trying to get through the next couple of weeks first. (Then I go out of town on business and not having my bike won't be a big deal).

And no offense taken about my lacing skills. Although the last two spokes were replaced by at the REI shop (which was the closest shop to where they broke). So it has been in the hands of someone with more knowledge than I.

where are the spokes breaking? maybe its just bad spokes and the heads are breaking off.

@mark They have all been in roughly the same area. All in a region exactly opposite of where I'd put a flashing led light that my GF had gotten me for Christmas. Not sure if that was the cause, but I've temporarily removed the light.

@Myddrin West Liberty Cycles or TRM (on 88) both have spoke cutters and very good wheel builders. If one breaks more are on the way. You can Google "stress relieving" or just have a shop do it. Or you can. Basically involves grabbing pairs of spokes and squeezing real hard.

Free Ride has a whole bunch of DT spokes in MTB-ish lengths available for a donation (or: much less than shop prices). They've been there forever.

Stopped by Thick Bikes on Saturday, got a spoke and scheduled a re-lacing/tune up. Took me two hours, but I got the new spoke laced and the spoke tension at a level that sounded "right"... so hopefully it will hold me until my name comes up at T.B..

Thanks everyone for all of the help!