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Why do I keep breaking spokes?

I have a Trek Allant 7.4, I ride it on the paved trails. I've had it for about 3 years. It's in good shape. Suddenly within the last 3 months I've broken 4 spokes on my back wheel. The back wheel is fine. I've had the bike shop check it over and over again. The other spokes are fine. I'm just riding when I hear a metallic pop, and the spoke is gone. Any idea why? I've actually lost weight recently, so I'm not riding at my heaviest weight. If it was weight related I would have broken spokes over the past few years. Can you put more stress on a spoke if you're riding slightly underinflated tires? I've ridden 3x this weekend and I didn't check my tire pressure this morning. Worst case scenario they're running at 60-70 instead of the suggested 80-100... any ideas would be great.
edronline
2019-08-25 13:15:53
Rim or disc brakes? Disc brakes put stress on the spokes since the braking force is transmitted through them to the rim.
jonawebb
2019-08-25 15:09:04
Disc. I read that if you break one spoke it can put stress on the other spokes and weaken them causing this to happen. Suggested getting a new wheel or rebuilding it. Mine are not super expensive so I guess I'm going the new wheel route.
edronline
2019-08-25 16:27:10
Tire pressure has nothing to do with it. If anything the softer tires should transmit less force to the wheel and spokes. As for riding with broken spokes, you'd need a bunch of broken spokes to create a domino effect - I'm pretty sure the wheel would be wildly out of true before you got to that point. I'd have a bike shop re-lace the wheel with quality, heavy-duty spokes. It sounds like the existing ones are cheap and, like so many other metal objects subjected to stress, have fatigued.
jmccrea
2019-08-25 20:34:16
This is helpful. Thanks
edronline
2019-08-25 21:41:06