Loose Spoke?

[IanT]

Firstly, let me say that as far as bicycle maintenance goes - I'm a bit of a rookie. It's odd, because I have restored several cars and will happy twiddle the spanners on any of my tin boxes. But, when it comes to understanding the intricacies of anything associated with my bikes - I just seem to do the Homer Simpson blink........if you know what I mean. Notwithstanding this, I'm resolved to getting stuck in and teaching myself how to look after my trusty steeds.

Just recently, my lovely Carerra Vulcan MTB has been getting a bit of a pounding - in a move from mainly on-road to mainly off-road miles (odd, I know). However, over the last couple of rides, I have noticed an incredibly annoying buzz coming from the front wheel.

After a thorough inspection of the offending wheel, I think I have discovered a loose spoke. When I say loose, I mean looser than the others - not falling out. When I run a finger around the spokes, I do get a nice metallic 'ting' from all of them, but when I squeeze pairs of spokes, I notice that this particular one (and, perhaps one other) just move slightly over their neighbour, with a slight creak (sorry for the less than descriptive write up on the sounds).

The bike is clamped in the stand and the Halfords spoke key poised - but - before I do any damage, can someone tell me.......does this actually sound like the symptoms of a spoke that is coming loose? Equally, do they sometimes loosen up (presumably accelerated by the regular high speed pounding over tree roots etc)?

The wheel actually looks very true - so I certainly would not want to go making things worse with a well-intentioned, but misguided tweak of a nipple!! Ooooer, missus!!!!

I have looked at the various YouTube videos on the subject - but they all seem to deal with a wheel shaped like a banana - rather than one with a slightly loose spoke.

Any help / advice will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Ian.

 

[Basil.B]

I have two spokes that keep coming loose on my rear wheel. After nearly every ride I have to tighten them up, annoying!
Just get a spoke key and give them a little tweak.

 

[Mugshot]

I have two spokes that keep coming loose on my rear wheel. After nearly every ride I have to tighten them up, annoying!
Just get a spoke key and give them a little tweak.

What bike is it Basil, how old is it?

 

[IanT]

I have two spokes that keep coming loose on my rear wheel. After nearly every ride I have to tighten them up, annoying!
Just get a spoke key and give them a little tweak.

Cheers Basil.

I believe I would be correct in saying that it's ant-clockwise to tension the spoke?

Thanks again,

Ian.

 

[accountantpete]

Cheers Basil.

I believe I would be correct in saying that it's ant-clockwise to tension the spoke?

Thanks again,

Ian.

The nipple turns clockwise when looking down on it - like a normal screw.

 

[the snail]

Cheers Basil.

I believe I would be correct in saying that it's ant-clockwise to tension the spoke?

Thanks again,

Ian.

If you're looking down at the spoke nearest the ground, then it's anti-clockwise to tighten it - if that makes sense! just tighten a bit at a time and ping it to check the tension.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

The nipple turns clockwise when looking down on it - like a normal screw.

You have a very strange idea about what goes on with a normal screw...

 

[PpPete]

Think of the spoke as long bolt and the nipple as a nut. So looked at from the rim its clockwise to tighten, looked at from the hub its anticlockwise to tighten.

Wheel truing (and building) is both simple and very complex. Simple method, simple technology, but you want to get a) wheel round not egg-shaped
b) wheel laterally true
c) wheel correctly dished (rim centred between locknuts)
d) spoke tensions even

Getting all of those things right at the same time can be challenging... improve one thing and another is "off", improve that whilst not buggering up the first thing, and you find a third thing is now out.

Tighten the loose spoke until its more or less at the same "tinginess" as its neighbours - if that induces a significant wobble, you may be able to negate it by tightening the two spokes either side. Trouble is if a lot of tightening has been done to get this far you will likely now have a flat spot on the rim. So - proceed by no more than half turns of the spoke key at a time and try to find a "balance" between all 4 criteria above.

 

[Herzog]

Think of the spoke as long bolt and the nipple as a nut. So looked at from the rim its clockwise to tighten, looked at from the hub its anticlockwise to tighten.

Wheel truing (and building) is both simple and very complex. Simple method, simple technology, but you want to get a) wheel round not egg-shaped
b) wheel laterally true
c) wheel correctly dished (rim centred between locknuts)
d) spoke tensions even

Getting all of those things right at the same time can be challenging... improve one thing and another is "off", improve that whilst not buggering up the first thing, and you find a third thing is now out.

Tighten the loose spoke until its more or less at the same "tinginess" as its neighbours - if that induces a significant wobble, you may be able to negate it by tightening the two spokes either side. Trouble is if a lot of tightening has been done to get this far you will likely now have a flat spot on the rim. So - proceed by no more than half turns of the spoke key at a time and try to find a "balance" between all 4 criteria above.

^^This is good advice. If the spoke continues to loosen, a rebuild is probably in order (using same components).

 

[IanT]

Think of the spoke as long bolt and the nipple as a nut. So looked at from the rim its clockwise to tighten, looked at from the hub its anticlockwise to tighten.

Wheel truing (and building) is both simple and very complex. Simple method, simple technology, but you want to get a) wheel round not egg-shaped
b) wheel laterally true
c) wheel correctly dished (rim centred between locknuts)
d) spoke tensions even

Getting all of those things right at the same time can be challenging... improve one thing and another is "off", improve that whilst not buggering up the first thing, and you find a third thing is now out.

Tighten the loose spoke until its more or less at the same "tinginess" as its neighbours - if that induces a significant wobble, you may be able to negate it by tightening the two spokes either side. Trouble is if a lot of tightening has been done to get this far you will likely now have a flat spot on the rim. So - proceed by no more than half turns of the spoke key at a time and try to find a "balance" between all 4 criteria above.

Thanks for all the replies on this - and especially this great advice, PpPete.

Cheers,

Ian.

 

[Basil.B]

What bike is it Basil, how old is it?

I bought the bike off a mate, who had built it up as a project.
GT frame 90's
Mavic wheels/ no name on hubs
Shimano 5700 brakes
Single speed.

My Rear wheel went totally out of shape at the weekend, spokes came loose once more.
My 84 year old Dad fixed it in no time, trued it to perfection!
He made it look easy, he worked in a Bicycle shop for a few months before joining the RAF.

 

[PpPete]

^^This is good advice. If the spoke continues to loosen, a rebuild is probably in order (using same components).

A rebuild may indeed fix the problem .... but it may not. The one time I tried a complete rebuild on a wheel that was suffering persistent spoke loosening I found that when it was all dis-assembled, the rim had a natural pringle to it. I could just about get it laterally true but the spoke tensions were miles out. It lasted about another 30 miles before going sufficiently out-of-true that brake caliper QR had to be opened to continue with the day's ride.... which fortunately ended near a LBS which could supply a suitable replacement wheel.

 

[Mugshot]

I bought the bike off a mate, who had built it up as a project.
GT frame 90's
Mavic wheels/ no name on hubs
Shimano 5700 brakes
Single speed.

My Rear wheel went totally out of shape at the weekend, spokes came loose once more.
My 84 year old Dad fixed it in no time, trued it to perfection!
He made it look easy, he worked in a Bicycle shop for a few months before joining the RAF.

Ah ok, I only ask because I had an issue with perpetually loosening spokes on one of my bikes, it was only 6 months old or so, so eventually took it back to the LBS and they put better wheels on it at no cost. I don't think that would apply with yours by the sounds of it though.