Hello, i have an odd situation on my hands about a broken spoke (hole?). This is the very first time i attempt at fixing a bike wheel and so when i realized the wheel was not true i tried tightening it and realized it stuck out above the nipple. After this i removed the spoke to get a better look at the problem and i realized that the hole where the spoke first enters is a little broken. By that i mean that the hole has a little indentation on the side and it is slightly bigger which allows the end of the spoke to come out more than it has to. Not sure if i am explaining myself correctly... Anyone ever encountered anything like this?
Broken spoke hole?
- Thread starter Siulman
- Start date
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stoatsngroats
Legendary Member
- Location
- South East
That looks like a crack just above the hole, and I think it will need a new hub, but others will be along with better advice!
Yellow Saddle
Guru
- Location
- Loch side.
Your hub's flange is cracked. This is a very rare occurrence and caused by a stress riser (sharp ridge) of sorts. If you look at behind the spoke head you may see two die marks on the spoke itself. A worn head-forming die leaves marks which damage the hub which leads to a crack like that.
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Davidc
Guru
- Location
- Somerset UK
If it were mine I'd keep the rim, buy new spokes and hub and start again.
What Yellow Saddle says is just what happened to me (about 40 years ago) some months after rebuilding a wheel, I didn't realise what had happened, bought a new hub, reassembled the wheel with the original spokes and it happened again a few months later. The owner of my LBS then showed me the cause which was - as YS describes - a raised crease on the spoke head.
The hubs I used at the time were Campy large flange ones and weren't cheap!
What Yellow Saddle says is just what happened to me (about 40 years ago) some months after rebuilding a wheel, I didn't realise what had happened, bought a new hub, reassembled the wheel with the original spokes and it happened again a few months later. The owner of my LBS then showed me the cause which was - as YS describes - a raised crease on the spoke head.
The hubs I used at the time were Campy large flange ones and weren't cheap!
Yellow Saddle
Guru
- Location
- Loch side.
In our shop we used to just reject them if it was one or to in the batch, but if the whole box was like that, send it back. Surprisingly, the spoke distributors I worked with didn't understand the problem and I suspect they just sold it on to someone else.
Davidc
Guru
- Location
- Somerset UK
Clearly you in the commercial bike world see lots of spokes, I see relatively few - how common is this defect in new spokes? Also how common is an unuseably bad thread at the nipple end, something I've found more often?
I don't buy very many spokes, but get annoyed when they far too often turn up poorly finished.
Yellow Saddle
Guru
- Location
- Loch side.
We used mostly SAPIM and DT Swiss spokes and I can't say I even remember a single thread defect in many tens of thousands of spokes. And the only defective nipple I can remember was one that skipped a manufacturing process and jumped into the box - it had no hole at all and wasn't plated. What brand of spokes gave you trouble?
Davidc
Guru
- Location
- Somerset UK
I have to admit that it was cheap mail order ones both times for use on the previous round town bike. I've used cheap generic ones from lbs for that bike since then without problems.
The DT Swiss ones for the present and previous tourers have been perfect and have lasted longer than rims on Suffolk and Somerset potholed roads but they're more expensive.
I suppose it's what you pay for and your reply reinforces that.
The DT Swiss ones for the present and previous tourers have been perfect and have lasted longer than rims on Suffolk and Somerset potholed roads but they're more expensive.
I suppose it's what you pay for and your reply reinforces that.
