Cycling UK Forum

I have a front hub motor which obviously significantly increases the weight of my wheel. After - and sometimes mid way through - my rides which usually are between 20 and 30 miles - I have to tighten two or three spokes at the rim. I always hand tighten only as I am afraid of over tightening. It isn’t the same spokes necessarily.

Any suggestions on how to reduce this problem?

It isn’t a particular burden as I am never in a hurry but I don’t want to forget or leave it too long and a spoke come fully loose.

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As above, your wheel needs to be re-trued & tensioned from scratch or else a a spoke will break. Especially as it is also taking drive from the hub witch will hasten fatigue fractures in the spoke elbows when spokes are too slack.

is it always the same spokes ?

If it is only 2 or 3 and it is the exact same ones, then I would just tighten them up with a spoke key until they have the same tension as the ones they are next to on the same side (ping them and listen to the note they should all sound similar on the same side)

Mark them so you know which ones you have tightened, and if the wheel has went out of true then slacken them a little and take it to a wheel builder. If the wheel has stayed true then ride it and see what happens, it could be as simple as that.

As others said mark the Spokes, I wonder if wheel has been built and not seated and stress relieved-so the Spokes have settled and loose

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

Thanks for your replies. As ever, helpful.

It isn’t the same spokes but I have decided to take the bike to my LBC. Because of Covid I have maintained the bike fully myself this last year and am more aware of issues, which is presumably a good thing. They are 36 spoke wheels and they front wheel and electric kit was put together by a LBC as the fork needed some adjustments to accommodate the motor which was beyond my modest skills. The wheel came fully assembled with the motor kit.

I am not aware of any local wheelbuilders unless the LBC has that ability. I have no idea although as the only shop in the area apart from GO I imagine he has.

The wheel is 4 years or so old and has done about 4,000 miles.

I recently looked at a electric hub wheel that a friend of mine fitted and was not at all impressed by the tension of the spokes which was very low. I properly tensioned the wheel for him and it has been fine. However it would not have been long before all the spokes were loose IMO. The wheel was built with 13 gauge spokes which don't stretch much and therefore don't hold a lot of tension making proper tensioning all the more important. I suspect that most wheels of this type are built in a similar fashion.

Spokes should be tight, they are very rarely "too tight"... they are often not tight enough. They are certainly not tight enough if they come loose. The wheel needs re-tensioning as a matter of urgency, especially if you have an electric hub.

If you can't get hold of a wheel builder, then go through ALL the spokes with a spoke key and tighten them by one full turn (in half turn increments) you are unlikely to do any damage and the wheel should be as true as it is now, but overall the tension should improve. If that's not enough, then add another half a turn across the wheel. Don't tamper with individual spokes if you don't have a tension meter, just increase the tension in all of them by the same amount, so you can keep track of what you have done.