Spoke tension

Ouchie.

Bicycle wheels are amazingly strong, but they do eventually wear out. You did a great thing in posting this…. Teaches us all that we need to do pre-ride inspections regularly.

Great post! Thank you.

@Dickie 48842 wrote:

This happened on my Neuvation wheels last year, almost all the eyelets cracked at the same time. I could hear them creaking like an old wooden bed in a brothel when I was riding. Granted they were old and had a ton of miles on them. Luckily Neuvation wheels are cheap (for a reason), and they offer a re-build policy. I sent in both hubs and spokes and they re-laced both wheels with new rims for around $120.00… not too bad. If you want some cheaper training wheels, their deals are not too shabby. Their customer support is awesome. I had a few email exchanges with John Nugent (the owner) himself…. very knowledgable.

Curious to know – which Neuvation wheels are they? I have over 4000mi on my R28Ls and I’m wondering how long I should expect them to last.

@ShawnoftheDread 48833 wrote:

Time for new wheels, I suppose.

What? They are only 20 years old. They’re just getting broken in.:rolleyes:

@ShawnoftheDread 48833 wrote:

Pre-ride inspection in the road bike this morning revealed this:
[ATTACH]2677[/ATTACH]

Time for new wheels, I suppose.

Ouch. Did you recently get them trued?

Sometimes when a wheel gets old and the rim is truly bent and it is getting more and more difficult to true, an inexperienced mechanic can make the mistake of overtensioning spokes to force it into true. I’ve had this happen to me before I learned to do my own wheels, and the result for me was a rip like yours. It is better in cases like this to leave the wheel slightly out of true but within proper tension. At least then the owner can have a little advance notice that they will soon need new wheels or rims.

@ShawnoftheDread 48898 wrote:

These are old wheels: 105 hubs with Wolber rims, 126 mm spacing, and 7-speed cassette. Better to replace or rebuild as far as best value and ease go?

Of course, replacement is the easiest; just lay down cash and boom, new wheels. You can get low- to mid-range wheels (105/Ultegra mix) for not too much money and just be done with it in a jiffy.

As far as value, hand-built wheels can be better, but it depends on what you want out of them. Do you tend to abuse your wheels? Are you looking for a wheelset that will just get you rolling quickly or do you want something that will last you longer? Handbuilts that are maintained can last a looong time and roll smooth and true for years. What shape are the hubs in? If they can be re-used it cuts down on the cost (although some builders won’t re-use hubs).

One low-budget (and time-saving) thing I’ve done in the past when I just wanted to get rolling again was to get a wheel from Performance, (Ultegra hub with Mavic Open Pro rims and wheelsmith spokes) for like $150. I then de-tensioned all of the spokes and spent a good couple of hours re-doing the wheel the way I like, gradually tensioning, truing, tensioning, truing, stress-relieving the spokes, etc. I considered it $150 spent on parts and the labor of spoke lacing.