In th 400 Four's rear wheel. Wonder when that happened, then, because it wasn't there last time I cleaned the rear wheel, some time before Chimay. Last time I had a spoke break in a rear wheel, it was on an SOHC Honda CB750, and the spoke disappeared into the wheel, ripping the tube open and deflating the tyre in ---> <--- that short a time. Shows the importance of cleaning SOBs, or any bikes, I suppose. Hello, Mr. Silver, a new spoke please. And a spare, too.
On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 15:55:51 +0100, Why not go the whole hog and get a complete set of stainless ones? -- _______ ..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom) \`\ | /`/ DS#8 BOTAFOT#3 SbS#2 UKRMMA#13 DFV#8 SKA#2 IBB#10 `\\ | //' `\|/` `
Probably because stainless spokes are more brittle and thus more likely to break in the usual place at the sharp bent where they pass through the hub. Nice and shiny for a show queen but not a lot of good in practice on a bike that will be ridden.
Funny how they manage OK on mountain bikes. My new MTB has stainless spokes, but they're black. Oh, and flat, which is rather, err, odd. But it means there's no bending on the crossover. -- _______ ..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom) \`\ | /`/ DS#8 BOTAFOT#3 SbS#2 UKRMMA#13 DFV#8 SKA#2 IBB#10 `\\ | //' `\|/` `
My YZ250 has aftermarket SS spokes in the rear wheel. This has to survive the beating an MX bike has to put up with, and with my weight on it. I'll agree that SS alloys can be more brittle than other steels but it's simply a matter of choosing the right alloy and designing the component to suit it.
That and putting in a single spoke is rather easier and cheaper than sending the wheel off for a complete re-spoke. And it was rebuilt not too long ago anyway, so the spokes all look nice and clean.
That and putting in a single spoke is rather easier and cheaper than sending the wheel off for a complete re-spoke.[/QUOTE] Do it yourself man! It really isn't difficult you know. Ah well, that's fair enough, I suppose. -- _______ ..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom) \`\ | /`/ DS#8 BOTAFOT#3 SbS#2 UKRMMA#13 DFV#8 SKA#2 IBB#10 `\\ | //' `\|/` `
Bollocks - it's all about getting the correct SS. I have a bike that is far from a show queen, gets ridden and has 25 y/o Boranni rimmed stainless spoked wheels with no problems. I suspect from this and some of your other posts you actually know very little.
WRONG - the rims are irrelevant. The problem is at the sharp bend where the spoke enters the hub. The solution is to have a radiused hole matching the radius of the bend in the spoke rather than the sharp corner of a drilled hole. This is expensive, so the best that happens in practice is a mild chamfer. This corner produces a very high local stress in the spoke which is best tolerated by a mild steel, any stainless formulation will always be more liable to failure here than a mild steel, and the stainless alloys which would be the least bad also happen to be the more expensive alloys. Given that the specific application is suffering fractures in mild steel spokes it is clear that the use of stainless can only make matters worse unless the hub holes are reworked and the bend in the spoke is made under very carefully treated processes. Annealing the bend to relieve the stress will also tend to discolour the finish of a stainless item. Sex munce ago i cuddunt spill injuneer now i are wun. Back to engineering college for you, lad. When you have finished your HND (or whatever they call it now) your next task is to discover how to be sure that a spoke purchased for Johnny randon retailer who buys from the cheapest supplier can be guaranteed to meet the specification and contain the correct alloy. OTOH maybe the original failure was caused by a latent defect in the original spoke and a simple replacement will be a satisfactory permanent repair. Examination of the failed spoke under an SEM would settle this question.
There is a rather worrying gash running across the tyre tread as well, which suggests that I hit something hard and knobble, rather firmly. Life's too short, etc....
So I understand. But it's one of those things where you really *do* need SWK looking over your shoulder, the first time. Classic Bike sent their writer Sally off to learn how to rebuild a wheel, and she produced a creditable effort on her first try, but only under the aforementioned conditions.
Naah, piece of piss mate. I used sheldon's instructions the first time I built a (push-)bike wheel, with no problems whatsoever. It's still running true to this day. -- _______ ..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom) \`\ | /`/ DS#8 BOTAFOT#3 SbS#2 UKRMMA#13 DFV#8 SKA#2 IBB#10 `\\ | //' `\|/` `
So I understand. But it's one of those things where you really *do* need SWK looking over your shoulder, the first time. Classic Bike sent their writer Sally off to learn how to rebuild a wheel, and she produced a creditable effort on her first try, but only under the aforementioned conditions.[/QUOTE] I did my YZ myself simply by replacing one spoke at a time, working across the wheel the way one would tighten nuts. To be fair, it's also slightly less critical if an offroad wheel is slightly off true. Mine wasn't noticeably out of true at the end.
There is a rather worrying gash running across the tyre tread as well, which suggests that I hit something hard and knobble, rather firmly.[/QUOTE] Just a thought: be sure that no other spokes are loose: that could have caused the breakage too.
Just a thought: be sure that no other spokes are loose: that could have caused the breakage too.[/QUOTE] Checked 'em, and they're all fine.
We've been building pushbike wheels with stainless spokes for years and AFAIK none have ever broken. Use the right material and they don't, and I'd expect spoke-sellers to spec the right material. Only spokes I've ever had break are old non-stainless ones.
How do you know the spokes are mild steel? I'd expect high-tensile of some kind. And to say "stainless" as if that's one thing, when there are many stainless alloys, leas me to agree with sweller, you don't know much.
