Spokes ?

[Jameshow]

So has anyone on here ever had a wheel collapse because they didn't replace a broken spoke immediately?

This.

Yes...

It was my fault tbh, at the end of 400km in 24hr ride I took a bridleway over a hill and hit a rock...
I think the spoke broken at the rim surface deep section rim so probably fatigued at that point.
The wheel didn't collapse but the brakes rubbed badly.
Accidents happen esp when your tired.

 

[Pblakeney]

My Surly LHT had braze ons on the left chain stay for at lease two spokes, mighthavebeen three.

I have wondered what those grooves were for on my old Trek.

 

[presta]

Yes...

It was my fault tbh, at the end of 400km in 24hr ride I took a bridleway over a hill and hit a rock...
I think the spoke broken at the rim surface deep section rim so probably fatigued at that point.
The wheel didn't collapse but the brakes rubbed badly.
Accidents happen esp when your tired.

If you hit a rock I'd expect the wheel might get damaged with or without a broken spoke, are you saying that there was a spoke already broken, and that this was the cause of the wheel damage? I had a wheel with no broken spokes at all pringle when I hit a car.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

So has anyone on here ever had a wheel collapse because they didn't replace a broken spoke immediately?

This.

To add to that… the stuff that comes through the shop doors seems to fall into two categories:

one or more spokes missing and the customer is surprised when we tell them. This news is often accompanied by the nasty addition of of telling the poor guy he has cracks around lots of spoke holes so “no sir, we can’t save the wheel”.

or… the customer is complaining of rubbing rim brakes which we find is due to a badly wobbling ( or loose! ) rim because one or more spokes are damaged or missing.

sometimes wheels are so badly damaged that its a wonder that it didn’t collapse, it is truly amazing how much abuse a decent wheel can put up with. My personal favourite are the wheels which have had a chain jammed between the spokes and the cassette a few times ( because spoke protectors aren’t cool don’t you know ) and half of the spokes have been chewed half way through and still the wheel stands!

 

[presta]

To add to that… the stuff that comes through the shop doors seems to fall into two categories:

one or more spokes missing and the customer is surprised when we tell them. This news is often accompanied by the nasty addition of of telling the poor guy he has cracks around lots of spoke holes so “no sir, we can’t save the wheel”.

or… the customer is complaining of rubbing rim brakes which we find is due to a badly wobbling ( or loose! ) rim because one or more spokes are damaged or missing.

sometimes wheels are so badly damaged that its a wonder that it didn’t collapse, it is truly amazing how much abuse a decent wheel can put up with. My personal favourite are the wheels which have had a chain jammed between the spokes and the cassette a few times ( because spoke protectors aren’t cool don’t you know ) and half of the spokes have been chewed half way through and still the wheel stands!

The reason I asked if anyone has actually had a wheel collapse is because:

Of all the bikes I've owned I've had just one that broke any spokes, and it was a complete b*gger for it. It started within a month or so from new, and kept doing it for the 20 odd years I used it, even after fitting a new rear wheel on one occasion. At the start, I'd take it straight back to where I bought it, collect it the following week, then be back again the next week for another one replacing. I went on replacing spokes one at a time like that for a while, but eventually got fed up of it, so I used to leave them until I'd collected enough to make it worth the bother. The most broken spokes I ever rode with before replacing them was seven, and by that time it wouldn't run without rubbing on the chain stays, but it didn't collapse, even fully laden for touring.

I don't know why it was such a problem, I used to think it was a bad batch of spokes until the new wheel carried on the same way. I don't see that it's anything I was doing: it wasn't overladen, it wasn't bounced around on rough terrain, and it wasn't treated any differently to all the other bikes that were no trouble. My current bike's done 46,000 miles, 10,000 of those fully laden touring, which is far more than all the others put together, and like all but the one culprit, it's never broken a single spoke. It has stainless spokes instead of rustless, but then, all the previous bikes had rustless spokes, and they were no problem. Perhaps it was all down to bad wheel builders.

My view is that you'd have to be pretty unlucky to break a spoke, and even if you do, it's not worth fretting over until you get home, and certainly not worth faffing with at the side of the road or carrying heavy tools for.

 

[Pblakeney]

FWIW, a broken spoke can be an issue for those who went down the road of lightweight wheels with a low spoke count.
I’d advise against it but people want bling.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

So has anyone on here ever had a wheel collapse because they didn't replace a broken spoke immediately?

This.

I’ve had two rear wheels pringle enough that they were not rideable till I’d adjusted tension in surrounding spokes to bring the wheel as close to true as possible.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

The reason I asked if anyone has actually had a wheel collapse is because:

Of all the bikes I've owned I've had just one that broke any spokes, and it was a complete b*gger for it. It started within a month or so from new, and kept doing it for the 20 odd years I used it, even after fitting a new rear wheel on one occasion. At the start, I'd take it straight back to where I bought it, collect it the following week, then be back again the next week for another one replacing. I went on replacing spokes one at a time like that for a while, but eventually got fed up of it, so I used to leave them until I'd collected enough to make it worth the bother. The most broken spokes I ever rode with before replacing them was seven, and by that time it wouldn't run without rubbing on the chain stays, but it didn't collapse, even fully laden for touring.

I don't know why it was such a problem, I used to think it was a bad batch of spokes until the new wheel carried on the same way. I don't see that it's anything I was doing: it wasn't overladen, it wasn't bounced around on rough terrain, and it wasn't treated any differently to all the other bikes that were no trouble. My current bike's done 46,000 miles, 10,000 of those fully laden touring, which is far more than all the others put together, and like all but the one culprit, it's never broken a single spoke. It has stainless spokes instead of rustless, but then, all the previous bikes had rustless spokes, and they were no problem. Perhaps it was all down to bad wheel builders.

My view is that you'd have to be pretty unlucky to break a spoke, and even if you do, it's not worth fretting over until you get home, and certainly not worth faffing with at the side of the road or carrying heavy tools for.

Sounds like a bad wheel builder. It’s surprising how many don’t have a tension gauge and it seems most are self taught because, let’s face it, there’s no rules or qualifications for becoming a bike mechanic. Personally I started at a shop part time as a retirement job for fun three seasons ago, now I’m regularly building and servicing bikes worth up to twenty grand and nobody seems concerned. Bike shops have a hard time finding mechanics around here so if you have a pulse you’re in.

at least I have some serious high tech in my background… want some bearing engineering done?

 

[rogerzilla]

My then father-in-law, when driving to collect me from the beach on the 2008 Dunwich Dynamo, rescued a chap on the A1120* who had lost sufficient spokes that his wheel was unrideable. There can be a domino effect.

*west of Peasenhall, so he was also off-piste