Out Of True RS80 Wheel

[Andrew_P]

Some advice please.

I bought a RS80 Wheelset back in Feb, fitted to a Roubaix.

I am pretty sure they ran fine for the first month but I am also pretty sure my bike got knocked over at work and no one told me the end result was a bent rear hanger. The end result of that was that I threw my RD in to the spokes of my nearly new RS80 rear wheel locking it up solid at around 10mph.

All the spokes were in tact but the wheel had a massive buckle clipping one side of the chain stay and close on the other. I limped home on it. Took it in a cycle shop who trued it straight. 70 odd mile later up hill it popped a spoke and the instant buckle was as bad as above. Bought a few spokes and someone else trued it. They got it straight but a non drive spoke kept going loose resulting in a slight (well slight compared to the first two) buckle.

90 miles ago it was trued again but the wheel has a slight hump on it but was straight laterlly. The same spoke worked loose again yesterday, and when it is loose I can feel the wheel flexing over uneven tarmac. Pretty sure when coasting I can feel the hump through the frame as well when the spoke loosens (might be my imagination but sure I can). Also when it has been trued and you hold the saddle and crank the rear wheel to spin there is a rythmic once per rotation vibration (I assume this is the hump?)

So is it the RD incident that borked my wheel, or is it that a 20 spoke lightish wheel being used by 175lb commuter over South London/Surrey's finest roads or is it the Shimano wheel. I have read on some forums/reviews similar stories about the RS80, but I am sure you could find these stories about most wheels?

I am asking as previous to this I had Mavic Aksium 2010 put 5k miles on these untouched, but without a doubt the RS80 spun better.

 

[fossyant]

It will be the incident that borked the wheel. If it's gone that far out, there is a good chance the rim is bent, and all the truing will just 'hide' the problem. Are you commuting on the RS80's (are these the carbon laminate ones) - I only say that as they are a bit nice for that. I use 32 spoke handbuilts for commuting

 

[Andrew_P]

It will be the incident that borked the wheel. If it's gone that far out, there is a good chance the rim is bent, and all the truing will just 'hide' the problem. Are you commuting on the RS80's (are these the carbon laminate ones) - I only say that as they are a bit nice for that. I use 32 spoke handbuilts for commuting

Yes I am commuting on them but 98% of my riding is commuting :-)

Thought I would treat myself when the old rims were worn out. Now I have tasted a nice hub and light wheel it will be tough going back. Two out of three thought the wheel was borked by the RD incident, plus I have had to change my route to work as a road is flooded and the extra two miles are really poor road surface, avoid the big potholes but cannot avoid some of the digs in the road.

The main reason for asking is that the front is perfect so I am in quandry what to do, I could buy another RS80 rear, so I have a matching pair or a.n other brand but that would invoke the OCD in having two differnt wheels on the bike, but it also seems extreme to buy another wheelset when there is nowt wrong with the front..

 

[accountantpete]

You need to do what the old timers did - take all the spokes off and then hammer the rim into shape**.

At the moment it sounds like a lot of the spoke tension is being used to straighten the rim not keep it in true.

** with modern rims you can gently tease the rim back into some form of roundness. There are no guarantees that the wheel will be that round when finished - it depends on how the rim is deformed.

 

[lpretro1]

Best way to tell if rim is us is to take the tension off all the spokes. That way you'll be able to see if it is flat & round. If it's got a big bend in it then it's probably no good!

 

[Andrew_P]

Best way to tell if rim is us is to take the tension off all the spokes. That way you'll be able to see if it is flat & round. If it's got a big bend in it then it's probably no good!

Will put the old one on and give that a try over the weekend, thanks

 

[fossyant]

That would be a good option, back the lot off and check.

 

[actonblue]

One probable cause might be that the spokes have not been given equal tension when the wheel was trued. That would lead to the under tensioned spoke(s) loosening after a while.
I am a heavy rider and I have had wheels that have not needed to be trued in over 10k miles of commuting simply because they were properly tensioned when built.

 

[Andrew_P]

It was very bent when I backed them all off, I got Evans to price match ribble for some fulcrums went for a blast and they feel alot better. Never had a wheel that I could feel flexing under me. Also Friday night even with the brakes backed off it was rubbing on them up hill.