Spokes breakage

Ducati250Single

Ducati250Single

Member
I have an 66 cc motor on my bike , I geak 3 or 4 spokes everytime I ride. I know you don't let the clutch out when you are going fast. I think my spokes are about 15 gauge, and yes they are at the right tension
 
need more info and a pic - you may note that this doesn't happen often as there are very few threads about this
 
I had a broken spoke problem on my old Schwinn Racer with its 3-speed hub long before I motorized it. Spokes broke on the rear wheel no matter what I used, including stainless steel. It turns out that long wear had made the spoke holes in the hub into ovals, which for some reason will break the spokes, though I still don't know just why. I could have and probably should have bought a new hub, but instead I used my oxy-acetylene torch to fill up the holes with brazing--kind of a brass welding rod--and then re-drilling the holes. The spokes never broke again.
 
Mark Kinsler said:
I had a broken spoke problem on my old Schwinn Racer with its 3-speed hub long before I motorized it. Spokes broke on the rear wheel no matter what I used, including stainless steel. It turns out that long wear had made the spoke holes in the hub into ovals, which for some reason will break the spokes, though I still don't know just why. I could have and probably should have bought a new hub, but instead I used my oxy-acetylene torch to fill up the holes with brazing--kind of a brass welding rod--and then re-drilling the holes. The spokes never broke again.
Click to expand...
Mark Kinsler said:
I had a broken spoke problem on my old Schwinn Racer with its 3-speed hub long before I motorized it. Spokes broke on the rear wheel no matter what I used, including stainless steel. It turns out that long wear had made the spoke holes in the hub into ovals, which for some reason will break the spokes, though I still don't know just why. I could have and probably should have bought a new hub, but instead I used my oxy-acetylene torch to fill up the holes with brazing--kind of a brass welding rod--and then re-drilling the holes. The spokes never broke again.
Click to expand...

Strangely enough I have a 1970 Schwinn racer with that same Sturmey Archer rear hub...but its been fine. The hub on my gas bike is a coaster brake hub, and the hub holes are nice and round. I'm at a dilemma, this bike is a board track facimily and I don't want shiny spokes like stainless...I'm wanting it to look like it had been in a barn for 90 years. I may have to go t larger gauge stainless spokes and weather them with paint
 
Still, check the spoke holes carefully. The mechanism by which they break must be rather strange, and it's never been quite clear to me why any aspect of the spoke holes would cause spoke breakage. Essentially all I did was to treat the symptoms in my case, but without any understanding of what I was doing.

I noticed when I rebuilt the 3-speed hub the other day that the brazing I'd done had cracked around the periphery of each spoke hole.

Anyway, good luck with it and if you find a solution please let us know.

Mark Kinsler, Lancaster, Ohio
 
This is ironic my name is Mark too.
I wondered about the brazing, since thats a relatively soft material, being brass, but it worked for yoy, thats the up side. I think since I'm using a cheap hub, bottom of the line aluminum rim and no doubt th spokes aren't anything to praise...its not a bib wonder I'm having problems
 
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