A distant but familiar sound - broken spoke

[kahn]

I was about 10 miles into my ride and heard a sound from my past. There was this light, soft PING. It was there and then not. But as I pedaled, I heard it periodically. It was the ping or ting of a flexing wheel's spokes complaining. Stopped at just the right rotation as I immediately saw a dangling spoke. Oh, REAL WHEEL, of course. I finished my ride a bit more cautiously trying not to hit too many pavement cracks or potholes. Got home, brought the bike and and stripped it of gps, computer, burrito bag, water bottles (hot, so two today) my pannier and rear light. Headed back out with a substantially lighter bike, put the rack on the car and drove to the shop. Easy diagnosis - yup, broken spoke. Shop backed up so 3 or 4 days, maybe fewer... Asked them to check brakes and other stuff....

 

[Roamers]

Lucky single ping; I've never had just one go.

 

[kahn]

Lucky single ping; I've never had just one go.

Well, since I'm a tad on the heavy side and rode it another10 miles, who knows how many other spokes I stressed.

Hopefully, the shop will discover anything else amiss. Or I can expect to have more tinging in the future!

 

[kahn]

Well, there's always a catch, perhaps even a Catch 22 or as mentioned in another Thread, Murphy's Law.

The shop replaced the broken spoke and a bent one next to it. They also mentioned the rotors were worn so I gave them the go ahead. Three to four days estimate.

But it was ready this morning the next day. I drove down to pick it up. No riding in today's heat. But about an hour ago, shop calls calls and mentions a GLITCH. "I forgot to put back the lock ring with the magnetic sensor which is needed or the motor will not kick on" Crap it is 90F and I'm in no mood to either mount my rack and the bike and drive over or pedal UNassisted down there.

Finally, decided to bite the bullet (and the shop guy) and coast downhill and pedal to the shop. Boy, am I spoiled by power. But got there. All of three minutes to remove the wrong lock ring and replace it with MINE, the one necessary to inform the motor there is power to be used.

Pedaled back home up a mild hill and am now in my air conditioned den.

Hopefully, if I decide to tackle a ride tomorrow before the heat again kicks in....

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Oh, kahn.

It was such a gorgeous day. I was able to transport my two e-bikes to my first cousins' place. Then I let Renata (the wife of my "brother" Jacek) ride my one-month old Vado SL, and I was riding my heavy Vado 5.0. Renata was a good and strong cyclist. Somewhere on the trip, I also heard the "ping". It happened on sandy "washboard" gravel road. What choice did I have? Just to continue the ride! I was so lucky as the rear wheel withstood the stressed. Of course, I had to bring the wheel to an LBS for repair on the first working day.

So good spokes do not snap every day!

 

[Marcela]

Kahn, which bike is this?

My Como has been making the spoke sounds lately. I checked and tightened them and it for the most part went away.

My Vado has not been making the noises with more miles, it has the grommets where the spokes penetrate the rims, the Como does not have the grommets.

 

[Jason Knight]

At least your local shop says they'll do it. This is one of the topics that started me not trusting my LBS choices.

Twelve years and 100 pounds ago I popped a spoke on my 3 speed cruiser, and trying to get it fixed was... well, absurd.

The first shop I took it too dropped the F-bomb "get the f*** out of my store with that fake bike internal gear s***!". Apparently if you didn't own a mountain or racing bike "GTFO" was their stock response. Wonder why they went out of business like eight years ago?

The next shop told me they don't re-lace wheels... it didn't need a full re-lace, it needed one spoke replaced. They've moved out of town, their location is now a dentist office.

Another shop tried to sell me an entire bike. How these clowns are still in business is beyond me, especially now that they send you across the highway to another shop for any real repairs.

The final "viable" choice -- that place across the highway -- said they'd do it, then balked when they saw it was an internal hub so a non-standard spoke length. They also started bitching me out because it was a coaster with no front brake. This is the shop that I often describe as "well meaning, nice people, they try... but ultimately useless.".

After all this is the place where I asked for four 8 speed master links, pointing at the SRAM ones on the shelf behind the counter, and the girl had to go ask if I was asking for the right ones, then tried to sell me two of them when I asked for four. And where I asked about a "rear rack" that would fit ON a fat bike and the guy tried to sell me a rack to carry bicycles on the back of a SUV or pickup. I kept saying "no, one that goes ON the bike,", ended up walking away.

But at least they don't seem to try to treat customers as marks and rubes.

So the remaining choice was to transport it over the hill to the next state over as I knew the shop in Vermont would do it... but I chose a different answer.

I chose learning to do it my damned self. Again, it's a bicycle, not a rocket ship. Pretty much any time something's gone wrong in biking I've had to learn to DIY. Trusting others for repair seems an utter and complete waste of time, effort, and reliability.

Again, why when people say "just take it to your LBS" I have to choke back the stream of expletives and interjections. Must be nice to have local shop that doesn't try to rip you off and has some measure of competence.

Sadly where I popped it was like eight miles from home in the middle of the woods, so walking it back was impractical. The ride back ended up breaking two more spokes. I was shocked the rim held up and wasn't deformed, and that "bad things" didn't happen to the tube. Seriously thought I was gonna need another rim when that third spoke snapped.
I got lucky though, they were at roughly 120 degrees to each-other around the perimeter. Which is... strange.

Thankfully having shed all that weight I've not had a spoke give out in eight or nine years. Even just that first 60 pounds was a major difference in how often I had to repair stuff on the bike. I don't know how actual "big" people deal with it... like my neighbor who bikes regularly and is something like 6'4" and 300+ pounds. Which he carries way better than I did the 280 pounds at 5'4"

 

[kahn]

Oh, kahn.

View attachment 130619

It was such a gorgeous day. I was able to transport my two e-bikes to my first cousins' place. Then I let Renata (the wife of my "brother" Jacek) ride my one-month old Vado SL, and I was riding my heavy Vado 5.0. Renata was a good and strong cyclist. Somewhere on the trip, I also heard the "ping". It happened on sandy "washboard" gravel road. What choice did I have? Just to continue the ride! I was so lucky as the rear wheel withstood the stressed. Of course, I had to bring the wheel to an LBS for repair on the first working day.

So good spokes do not snap every day!

I do have 3,500 miles (5,600KM) on the bike. And I've hit my share of potholes and pavement cracks. Hopefully, it holds up. But our air quality is not good today and I think I will not fill my lungs with soot!!!! Our temps are suppose to break on Monday so that may be the next ride.

 

[kahn]

Kahn, which bike is this?

My Como has been making the spoke sounds lately. I checked and tightened them and it for the most part went away.

My Vado has not been making the noises with more miles, it has the grommets where the spokes penetrate the rims, the Como does not have the grommets.

Mine is the Creo - the road bike model. In addition, I'm a tad overweight and have rear panniers on the bike. I don't know if I'm filling in the blanks for if I really recall hitting a bad spot the other day which might have done it in. I mean each day riding, there's always another "crap, that was jarring spot on the road!"

 

[EMGX]

One solution is to have wheels with straight pull rather than J bend spokes. I haven't broken any on my 24 spoke wheels with straight pull hubs but I sometimes carry a couple spares. Spoke replacement would be a simple road side repair. Curious why more of the higher price bikes like Specialized don't use them.

 

[nope]

One solution is to have wheels with straight pull rather than J bend spokes. I haven't broken any on my 24 spoke wheels with straight pull hubs but I sometimes carry a couple spares. Spoke replacement would be a simple road side repair. Curious why more of the higher price bikes like Specialized don't use them.

Replacing any spoke, esp. straight pull, road side might be an issue. The brake rotor or cassette in place could be problematic when pulling a spoke out of the hub or getting the spoke back into the hub. Most of the wheels I've repaired/rebuilt with straight spokes use bladed spokes, which require a tool to hold the spoke so it doesn't torque/twist when tightened. Most of the conical headed straight spokes will turn when trying to tighten when not using the park tool. Too, some of the straight spokes are installed by slots and use a clip that keeps them in place, bit of a task road side. Not sayin' it can't be done but I'd rather call the wife for a ride. ;-)

 

[EMGX]

Replacing any spoke, esp. straight pull, road side might be an issue. The brake rotor or cassette in place could be problematic when pulling a spoke out of the hub or getting the spoke back into the hub. Most of the wheels I've repaired/rebuilt with straight spokes use bladed spokes, which require a tool to hold the spoke so it doesn't torque/twist when tightened. Most of the conical headed straight spokes will turn when trying to tighten when not using the park tool. Too, some of the straight spokes are installed by slots and use a clip that keeps them in place, bit of a task road side. Not sayin' it can't be done but I'd rather call the wife for a ride. ;-)

Not at all my experience.
I have shimano straight pull hubs with bladed spokes. The brake rotor and cassette are not in the way of replacement. If you hold the blade with pliers or a multitool they don't turn and it doesn't take any force to hold them (I really only held them to adjust the orientation of the blade) - why would you need a special tool to just hold a spoke? I removed a couple spokes for measurement and bought a few non bladed replacement spokes at a local bike shop (they had them in stock so the argument that they are hard to source wasn't the case for me). I had no issues holding the spokes to prevent turning when I test fitted the non-bladed spokes either - in fact I didn't even need to hold the spoke because they didn't spin. Any of the spokes on my wheels are very easily replaceable and would be no issue road side. Really so much information I read on forums and often advanced by those who present themselves as authoritative is not at all what I experience in actual practice. Straight pull spokes have real advantages like roadside replacement (at least for the Shimano hubs that I have - there might be others without this advantage, don't buy those if they exist) and theoretical advantages like strength but a real disadvantage is cost which the skeptic in me says that is the reason they aren't used more widely by manufacturers.

 

[Allan47.7339]

The OP's Creo uses DT Swiss "road boost" spacing on the hubs and requires a center lock disc for the rear sensor. It's a lot easier for a shop to replace a J-spoke or two than try to find straight pull hubs that fit and are actually available other than just a catalog specification place holder listing.

 

[kahn]

The OP's Creo uses DT Swiss "road boost" spacing on the hubs and requires a center lock disc for the rear sensor. It's a lot easier for a shop to replace a J-spoke or two than try to find straight pull hubs that fit and are actually available other than just a catalog specification place holder listing.

Ah, yes, "rear sensor"!!!!!

The shop called the next morning and said the broken spoke and another were fixed. I drove to pick it up as it was already too hot. The shop closes at 6pm and called at 4:30pm. "There's a slight glitch!" After a brief inquiry - the guy found my lock disc on his work bench. No sensor, I guess NO MOTOR support. It was now in the 90's and not very tempting to go out into the world. I dithered for half and hour, called and was assured it was a quick fix. I decided to don bike shorts, shoes and helmet and water bottle and COAST downhill and pedal to the shop. It was a quick fix. But it would have been a rude awaking at 7am the next morning to find a powerless e-bike. Glad he noticed and owned up to the error.

And, yes, it is a DT Swiss wheel, etc

 

[Allan47.7339]

Before you get a hankie out to wipe the tears away listening to kahn's story of woe, we live in an area with 20 or 30 good shops within 20 miles (32 km) and many that will support Specialized.

 

[EMGX]

The OP's Creo uses DT Swiss "road boost" spacing on the hubs and requires a center lock disc for the rear sensor. It's a lot easier for a shop to replace a J-spoke or two than try to find straight pull hubs that fit and are actually available other than just a catalog specification place holder listing.

My hubs are center lock but having an owner change hubs isn't the point. Given that spokes can and do break on a presumably higher quality and expensive bike it's curious that more such bikes aren't equipped with straight pull hubs which are as strong or stronger than j spoke wheels and have the advantage of easy, simple road side repair that anyone could perform in a few minutes without need of a ride home or the services of a LBS. Specialized certainly charges enough for its bikes to provide for it.

 

[EMGX]

Before you get a hankie out to wipe the tears away listening to kahn's story of woe, we live in an area with 20 or 30 good shops within 20 miles (32 km) and many that will support Specialized.

I'm sure not for the couple dollars and few minutes of time that someone could do the repair themselves. Just driving to and from a shop 20 miles away twice to deliver and pick up the bike would cost 10x as much as spoke of two for most cars, plus time and cost to the environment. Still, not the point and I'll leave it at that.

 

[nope]

Not at all my experience.
I have shimano straight pull hubs with bladed spokes. The brake rotor and cassette are not in the way of replacement. If you hold the blade with pliers or a multitool they don't turn and it doesn't take any force to hold them (I really only held them to adjust the orientation of the blade) - why would you need a special tool to just hold a spoke? I removed a couple spokes for measurement and bought a few non bladed replacement spokes at a local bike shop (they had them in stock so the argument that they are hard to source wasn't the case for me). I had no issues holding the spokes to prevent turning when I test fitted the non-bladed spokes either - in fact I didn't even need to hold the spoke because they didn't spin. Any of the spokes on my wheels are very easily replaceable and would be no issue road side. Really so much information I read on forums and often advanced by those who present themselves as authoritative is not at all what I experience in actual practice. Straight pull spokes have real advantages like roadside replacement (at least for the Shimano hubs that I have - there might be others without this advantage, don't buy those if they exist) and theoretical advantages like strength but a real disadvantage is cost which the skeptic in me says that is the reason they aren't used more widely by manufacturers.

"Really so much information I read on forums and often advanced by those who present themselves as authoritative is not at all what I experience in actual practice."
Not an authority but worked as a bike mechanic for years and certified back when USCF was a thing. Retired now and building wheels on consignment for a local shop, I do a lot of warranty work for Rovals and the last re-lace/rebuild was a MAVIC that was damaged shipped. My experience with bladed spokes is, they do require tools to hold in place as the nipples are torqued to specs. Park makes a tool specific to this task, Mavic has a notched tool for bladed spokes. From your post, I'm guessing that the instances you mention were conducted in a shop, not road side.