Ripped Out a Spoke ?

Bicycles were not meant to have motors, or ride 20 miles at 25 mph.......

Huffy will replace wheel, it's on order, meanwhile I went to the local Bike rental here, and the guy said, he has seen spokes, ripp out and has fixed them, I'm going to try it myself, but need to get the spoke I.D. ?

He wants me to bring in the wheel, so, I'm learning that there are different size spokes on the same wheel !

I wish it was a little easier, like, having a number for each spoke.

I'm gonna take the wheel in.

This may be true for the typical Walmart bike but I recently rode my bike for 150 miles at 23 mph without benefit of a motor. I don't see how a motor is going to put much more stress on a wheel than my own pedaling. If that's not enough I've now put a total of 8000 miles on that bike and the rear wheel only has 20 spokes!

I build most of my own wheels from the ground up. I've done about 20 of them now. Having ideal spoke tension means bombproof wheels that don't look like they should be.

The problem is the nature of the product. Cheap rim, cheap spokes, cheap hub, machine laced and machine tensioned at whatever setting gets them built and out the door fastest. What you very often get is a 36 spoke wheel with 12 spokes doing most of the work (high tension) and 12 spokes that are just along for the ride (low tension). As far as the bearings go, same deal. God only knows what the bearing preload was. Too tight or too loose? Not enough grease? Even good bearings won't last.

If the rim is puckered you should NOT reuse it. I'd hesitate to reuse the spokes too. Buying a similar Sun AT-18 rim and 36 generic straight gauge spokes is about $30. Paying the local bike shop to build the wheel back up will likely run you another $35. The best wheelbuilder here in the "Happy Valley" charges $50 and so would I. However, you can probably pick up a basic machine built wheel for $40 and they will probably verify the tensioning for free.

If it's way off the wheel will need to be retensioned and they may or may not want to charge you for that. Every nipple is backed off until the threads just barely show and tightened a turn at a time until the tension is correct. The wheel is then dished (centered) and trued (straightened). It takes me about a half an hour for a basic retensioning and an hour or more if it's MY wheel and it's built with an $80 hub, $70 rim, and $30 worth of spokes.

Good idea.

Your spokes are most likely 2.0mm diameter but there are other sizes.

The drive side spokes are usually about 2mm shorter than the non-drive side spokes too. I haven't worked on an inexpensive wheel in ages but I'm just guessing they're probably around 270mm long if you've got a single wall rim like most department store bikes do.

Inspiring to say the least ! I hope I get that good !

I just got back with a new spoke, while I was there I saw a wheel,

really great looking, I think it was chromium-steel, gonna get one, looks like what I need, sorry I don't have the specs, but I get them next visit, I was there to get the spoke and pick up a socket at the hardware.
But, although your advice is first rate, if it was a front wheel I definetly would not try what I am gonna do, and that is fix it !

or at least try, then I'm gonna except the Huffy that comes through delivery, and I'm going back to the bike shop and buy that chromium, first chance.

I'll mount the Chromium, looks like a winner !


Oh he said that my wheel was pretty much no dish and that the spokes would be pretty much all the same size, although he did get out a measurement device and check the size.
So. I'll let you know how it work goes.

Cachehiker, I believe that there is ALOT more stress on the spokes with the torque of the motor as versus how much torque you can apply with your legs, and all this stress is applied to one side of the wheel the side the where the rag joint clamps the sprocket to the drive side spokes. Once you tighten the rag joints and the sprocket down it has to reshape the wheel somewhat, and pull it towards the sprocket, and make 18 of the 36 spokes do most of the work. I agree these are cheap products, and there are people that build wheels with motorcycle spokes, but with proper care such as tying spokes and a little common sense such as peddling to start and then using motor to lessen torque on wheel, you should be good for quite a while. I have a couple hundred miles and no spoke problems but have replaced the rear bearings....

I think you should ride with some of the Cat. 2's out here. 20+ mph sprints up a 6% grade is the norm if you want to keep up.

I'll admit to being a bit obsessive about my wheels but I would never clamp a sprocket on one without retensioning it. A properly tensioned and dished 36 spoke wheel will have 18 pulling spokes effectively sharing the load under acceleration. A poorly built wheel will have only 6 carrying 300% higher tension when accelerating at which point it becomes more likely that one will the pull through the spoke bed of the rim. It's generally one of the 12 spokes that are "just along for the ride" that snap at the bend or nipple due to metal fatigue.

IIRC, a good DT Swiss 14 gauge spoke will take about 400 lbs. before it's at risk of breaking. I tension the majority of my wheels to 240 lbs. At 25 mph, given a little quick and dirty +/-20% trigonometry, the 160 lb. margin equates to about 50 peak hp required for instantaneous spoke failure. For a poorly built wheel we're looking at 17 peak hp. The high cycle fatigue limit is generally about 35% of this or just 6 hp for a poorly built wheel as opposed to 18 hp for an ideally tensioned one at 25 mph.

I realize that I'm not taking the strength of the spoke bed into account but one of these has a generous safety margin for being powered with an 80cc motor. The other does not.

[quote=cachehiker;20033]I think you should ride with some of the Cat. 2's out here. 20+ mph sprints up a 6% grade is the norm if you want to keep up.
QUOTE]


I'm not a cyclist and dont want to be, that is why I put a motor on my bicycle, and why I am here. The only peddling I do is to start it lol. I dont even like to peddle without the engine running because of the drag and noise of the motors gears.

Correction the wheel I have on my wish list are Shimano, Aluminum Alloy
and the spokes are 12 gauge.

Your right about the Rag side, Exactly that is where it popped, I got the pucker, ( dimple), back in and relatively flat, backed it up with a small washer, so, after some new bolts I will be putting the sprocket back on.

I am wondering since I have the rubber off, if I should true the wheel with the rubber off, and check the interior nipple heads and or use these to tighten or loosen the spokes, . . also, should I loosen all thirty-six spokes as if there is a need to adjust alignment would I go over and tighten a spoke that is already maxed ? What happens when a spoke is at the end of its thread, does it stop or will force strip it, (dumb question I guess ?), and how does that nipple screw head stop turning, I mean it can turn when adjusting from the exterior rim, right ?

Installing the sprocket probably tightened the two or three already overtightened spokes.

Always easier to true and dish without the rubber.

It's faster and easier to add tension a turn at a time at the beginning from the tire side of the rim.

Check out this site: Building Bicycle Wheels by Sheldon Brown
Spend $10 on a good spoke wrench. Believe me, it's worth it.
Then go back and read the article a second time before you start.

The nipple is generally brass and strips first but there's usually 2mm of threads to spare. Nipples are also cheaper and easier to replace than spokes so that's OK with me.

On most wheels, you can adjust it from either side. Tire side with a flat blade screwdriver (use one that fits the slot well) or hub side with a good spoke wrench.

I'd also get it pretty close (about a half turn or so away) before you attach the sprocket semi-snug and alternately tighten the spokes and sprocket til they feel right. Stop and stress relieve the wheel between going back and forth.

Oh, and take your time, no rush, don't be suprised if your first attempt goes out of true after the first couple of rides. Mine did. You catch on after a few tries and then start getting quicker.