Another broken spoke on back wheel

Hi all

Im now getting to the point where i might be convinced to sell my Strida 5.0!

After several months of pleasurable riding, one of the spokes broke on the rear wheel, which meant the back wheel needed to be trued, fair enough.

So i thought i’d send my bike in for a service as well as getting the spoke changed/wheel trued.

I gave my bike into Velorution & there started the troubles. First of all they charged 40GBP without parts for a service…what is there to service??? Then they charged me for the spoke & truing the wheel seperate. The thing is i waited a week for them (whilst they had my bike) to tell me they could not get any spokes, so they are cutting one down to fit my bike. I did not want this, but they guaranteed me that this was ok & “STRIDA” has told them to do so.

Anyway to cut a long story short (because this was not the only problem ive had since getting the bike back) a month or so with little riding (bike has not been the same to ride) i have discovered another spoke has broken, & you can easily see where the spoke broke that it was twisted & under a lot of tension. Looking at some of the other spokes, they seem to be doing the same.

WHAT DO I DO???

I have really had enough now, should velorution have let the bike come back to me like this.

At this moment i am really cheesed off, bike was fine before i let "professionals " touch it.

Any help is more than welcome.

Thanks

nindyz :question: :neutral_face: :confused: :question:

Sadly, very often when one spoke starts to go, its like a virus. They all start to go. This is a symptom of a badly built wheel, where the spokes are too loose. As a consequence, while rolling down the road, spokes start to flex. Think about it – bend metal back and forth and it breaks. In the case of a wheel, this typically happens at the head of the spoke near the center of the wheel.

Having built quite a few wheels in my time, I know how difficult it is to build a good wheel, and most of the standard tools are not designed to handle a small 16" wheel.

If the bike is relatively new, I’d complain to my shop and see what they would do about it. I know what I would do, which is to rebuild and re-true the wheel. For more info on the process, I’d read Jobst Brandt’s book, “The Bicycle Wheel”. Basically, I’m suggesting re-tensioning the wheel, trueing it, pre-stressing it, then trueing it again.

Hi just thought id report yet another broken spoke on my back wheel!!!sigh!!!

How much would a new back wheel cost? why do strida not offer the “LT” wheel???(this wheel i would really like to have…pleaaze??).

Does anyone know how much Deans Garage in the uk charges for the 16" wheel, does it come with the freewheel??

How much could i get the 18" wheels for?

I’m really on a budget, don’t feel like taking my bike back to so called prof’s ive taken it to before??

Someone help, im miserable now i know i have to a 5 mile bus commute after my tube journey.

Nindyz

I just bought 18" rims from Strida Europe. They were € 75 incl. p&p. [1]

  1. http://vanmoof.com/shop/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=112_114&products_id=146

Hi Totte

please put me out of my misery!
Can you please post a picture of the wheels you purchased through vanmoof, are they the same as on the picture on their website, ie. Are the wheels “alexrim DA16’s” or are they similar looking to the 16" ones already on the strida?

I’ve just spent the day on a wild goose chase to the only two strida dealers I know in the uk, they both seem to only do the black wheels which look like the originals but bigger in size.
The alexrim ones which are displayed on vanmoofs website look alot better constructed.
Please help, otherwise my red strida 5 will be seeing itself on fleabay, I’ve just about had enough will the treatment I’ve been receiving from the only two uk suppliers, pretty appaling service I can tell you all, really have put me off owning a strida.

Nindyz

Hi Nindyz

Just as an aside – and to state the obvious – it sounds like your problems originated with a crap job done on your wheel by Velorution. I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with the 16" Strida wheels themselves – I also had a broken spoke not too long ago, ordered new ones from Vanmoof, and was good to go in no time. So please, don’t throw your Strida baby out with the bath water!

Good luck and may your future rides be smooth
StridaD

seriously. Its not that big a deal to replace a broken spoke, and most competent bike shops will easily cut one down to size. Here in the US $1.15 - $1.75 seems to be a common enough price for one. Just bring the old broken one in, and voila. A new one. Replace it, retighten, and ready to go.

Some shops don’t want to be bothered making a spoke (frankly, its not worth their while to sell such an item), and will charge a bundle. I thank them for their time, and I don’t shop there again. Ever.

Spokes do vary in thickness, and sometimes the existing spoke nipple (the thing you turn and ajust by the rim) is a different size. So a tire more work - you have to take off the tire and tube, replace the nipple, etc. But it really is a pretty mechanical process. The only real skill involved there is the proper way to change a tire.

Nidyz,

I’ll put you out of your misery for sure! :wink:

Here’s a picture of my Strida 18" rims with puncture resistant Schwalbe Marathon Plus (355-35) mounted: http://picasaweb.google.com/martin.rosenlidholm/Strida#5463789986758309090

Hi Totte

Thanks for the reply, i don’t know if you realised these wheels don’t look like the ones advertised on their website, your ones are the same as the ones the shops here sell, but i think the Alexrims DA16’s look different totally, these just look like the standard ones, i did ask if these are alexrims & the dealers looked at me as if i was talking a different language and just said they are “Strida Rims”.

I really think thats not right for strida to be showing one product & providing you with another, i may have the wrong end of the stick here, but in my opinion, your wheels & the ones shown on Stridas website are infact different, someone please prove me wrong if you can, i’ll quite happily be corrected (although i still think the ones shown on strida web look more sporty!!).

nindyz (not ridden strida for a week now, sob!!)

You are definitely correct!

I haven’t noticed that before.

They should of course show a picture of what they’re actually selling!

I guess they have gone for a cheaper version maybe, as this thread is going back a bit in time.

Its pretty common for companies to change specs on their wheel sets, so showing an Alex rim but then sourcing another one, is a pretty common thing. Unless the rim was a very high end rim (its not) I wouldn’t have any issue with them using another rim on their “stock wheels”.

Now, I guess you are focusing on the Alex DA-16 spec’d wheels as potentially being superior. I wouldn’t count on it. All spoked wheels require lacing, truing, tightening, and the best wheels (here to fore) require a human element to make a really well built wheel. So, I guess Im saying its all a crap shoot to buy a new wheel. Your only defense is a buying from a reputable dealer who will stand behind his product in case spokes start to break. How do you get this? Deal locally and pointedly ask them.

If thats not what you care to do, buy some spokes and learn to fix it yourself. As I’ve noted though, a broken spoke is usually a sign of a badly built wheel, and they will continue to break. Case in point. I purchased a high-end ($5k) tandem bike. We biked, and were planning on a 1200 mile trek. While tooling around town, I had 4 spoke breaks in the first 400 miles. Sigh. Broke out my tools and found … an undertensioned, poorly built wheel. By the time I retensioned the wheel though, the damage was done. Another spoke popped. The company fussed, and was gonna stand behind it, but it was gonna take some time. My solution? Bit the bullet, bought spokes and rebuilt the wheel, and Im proud to say that years later, and having suffered 380 lbs of bikers and 70 lbs of gear not one problem.

Now, rebuilding your wheel is probably beyond you. But if you retension (i.e. check your spokes and tighten them) and just deal with changing them as they break, you should get by.