spoke is becoming loose every cycle

[petmcgratt]

I got a racing bike mid august and have noticed last week that one of my spokes was loose. I tightened it and put a bit of insulating tape on it to keep an eye on it. However I have noticed that when I go out the same spoke loosens. The bike should still be under warranty but is there anything I can do to remedy the problem.

thanks
peter

 

[Gerry Attrick]

It may be that the spokes are not tensioned evenly. Rather than muck about with it yourself, given the age of the bike, take it back to your dealer and get him to sort it.

 

[petmcgratt]

Thanks Gerry, will give them a ring tomorrow.

 

[Jonathan M]

As a temporary fix, you could use an anti-shake thread compound, not a threadlock compound. Needs looking at though as this shouldn't happen on a bike of this age.

 

[PpPete]

It may be that the spokes are not tensioned evenly.

Pretty certain I would say....
Go round the rest of the wheel plucking each spoke like a guitar string.
If they don't all sound more or less the same note, then ask the dealer to rebuild or replace the wheel rather than just sorting out the one spoke.

 

[MajorMantra]

It's not a Boardman is it? There's a known issue with some of the wheels they've been supplied with.

Matthew

 

[User6179]

I got a racing bike mid august and have noticed last week that one of my spokes was loose. I tightened it and put a bit of insulating tape on it to keep an eye on it. However I have noticed that when I go out the same spoke loosens. The bike should still be under warranty but is there anything I can do to remedy the problem.

thanks
peter

Sounds like the nipple has threaded and needs changing.

 

[petmcgratt]

Thanks everyone. The bike is a vitus alios triple and the wwheel is a rigida flyer noire.

 

[rogersavery]

The same thing happened with my rear rigida wheel. I think it might be a lack of tension all round, I trued mine and then gave a quarter turn on all spokes and it hasn't happened again

 

[petmcgratt]

Just an update. took the back wheel to the bike shop where i bought it in august and they wre happy ot true the wheel. I told them that there were some more also loose but the main culprit was the spoke with the insulating tape. also noticed the fron wheel now has some spokes loose. he start writing a docket for me to sign and then i asked was this not covered under the warranty as i only bought the bike several weeks ago and that this was a recurring problem now, they tried to tell me that the wheels weren't covered by warranty as this was done to wear and tear. Trying to charge me £24 pounds for trueing both wheels. Not sure whether to argue the bit out with them as it would be cheaper to buy a new set of rims everytime the spokes came loose!
any advice would be greatly appreciated as i have to pick them up tomorrow.
thanks

 

[Gerry Attrick]

It's true that wheels will sometimes go out of true after the first few miles. However, any good lbs will sort them out free of charge for the first couple of months. If they were built properly in the first place, they should only need doing once at most. Of course, if they show signs of having hit a pothole or the like, then the lbs might have a defence, but day to day riding should not be a problem.

 

[bad boy]

Thats disgraceful, I can understand that by reading the warranty to the letter it might state that the wheels are not covered but you could argue that with the short amount of time that has passed they have in effect sold you a defective product from a Trading Standards point of view. I would definitely argue the case perhaps speak to the manager and have a word it does sound rather poor customer service not even Evans would try this on !

 

[fossyant]

New wheels should not go more than a MM or two out of true - certainly no loose spokes.

Machined wheels don't always get 'de-stressed' but certainly shouldn't go way out of true/spokes come loose so soon.

Now if hand built wheels did that, I'd be none too happy, but all the wheels I've hand built are and have been brilliant !

 

[rogersavery]

if the wheels go out of true due to hitting pot holes etc then I can understand why they would not be covered, but spokes getting loose on there own should be covered by a warranty

 

[nmcgann]

That is outrageous. Spokes coming loose is a sign of a poor wheel build, usually overall spoke tension too low or uneven tension across the wheel. Any LBS worth it's salt should know this and rectify the problem FOC.

The only wear and tear in a properly built wheel is brake wear on the rim and wear in the hub bearings. Neither of these should be an issue for years (or 10,000+ miles).