Factory wheels

[cyclop]

Bought a factory made wheel,mavic open pro on shimano 105 with black spokes about a year ago off ebay(new).Almost straight away had a spoke break and then another this week.Anyone else had similar experience?Did I hear right that a top wheelbuilder doesn,t use black spokes for this reason????

[Brucey]

not all spokes are made equal, and not all black spokes are made equal.

I would say that the reason you broke spokes is (in rough order of probability)

1) because the wheel was not built (not stressed/stress-relieved particularly) properly

2) because the spokes didn't fit the hub

3) because the spokes were bad spokes

Personally I would (if I was unable to sort a wheel out) far sooner have a well built wheel in inexpensive components than a badly built one in the best parts available.

cheers

[cyclop]

Very interesting--but unfortunately true.Could be any of these.Also had a set built by Harry Rowland,same components,silver spokes,immaculate,faultless.

[531colin]

^^^ Wot Brucey said.
There is probably some branding on the spokes.........a letter or mark on the spoke head, even the shape of the nipple can be a clue to us real spoke nerds.........

http://www.mrrabbit.net/docs/spokeheads/main.html

[MikeF]

^^^ Wot Brucey said.
There is probably some branding on the spokes.........a letter or mark on the spoke head, even the shape of the nipple can be a clue to us real spoke nerds.........

http://www.mrrabbit.net/docs/spokeheads/main.html

Interesting post. I had absolutely no idea there were so many spoke manufacturers; opens up a whole new field of which I know very little.

[cyclop]

Further to my broken black spokes,they have an A printed in the usual place,any ideas?Also,the spoke broke at the nipple.

[meic]

My guess would be these ones

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-t ... ciasabu225

I have met factory wheels that were made with exactly the same components that I build a wheel with, after a bit of personal care and attention they were as good as the ones I build. Prior to that they were pretty poorly put together, my standard isnt exactly great.

[gerrymcm]

I had a similar issue with a factory built rear wheel (stainless spokes though) and to keep it in service I've stressed (or is it de-stressed) and re-trued it twice. It was barely out after stressing and I rode a few hundred miles the two stressing sessions.

I'm not 100% sure my issue has gone away but it will not do any harm provided you're confident you can re-true it.
I had approx 9 spokes go in about 2 years on this wheel before stressing it but nothing since but to be honest it's probably too early to tell if it's been resolved.

Good luck

[Brucey]

Further to my broken black spokes,they have an A printed in the usual place,any ideas?Also,the spoke broke at the nipple.

'A' is for ACI or Alpina isn't it? Either way these are normally good quality spokes; if they break where indicated then this means a very bad angle into the rim and/or bad wheelbuilding IME.

BTW recent experiments appear to indicate that spoke cracks, once they start, don't take long to propagate through a spoke. Thus if you stress-relieve a wheel, and it stops any further cracks from forming, you might break one or two more (from cracks that are already en route) but after that there is a good chance that the wheel may be more or less OK.

cheers

[531colin]

Further to my broken black spokes,they have an A printed in the usual place,any ideas?Also,the spoke broke at the nipple.

Unusual to break at the nipple (unless there are too many crosses or a huge flange) they usually go at the hub end.
ACI is a good guess for the brand.

[cyclop]

Thanks for the informative replies,I will dig out an old tome on wheelbuilding and try destressing the wheel