Broken Spoke Nipples…

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    • #89997

      As I was inspecting my bike the other day I found that 3 spoke nipples had snapped. One snapped on the back, and the other two snapped in the front. I replaced the nipple spokes and trued the tire. My question is that is there a way to reduce the nipples from breaking? My bike is only 6 months old and I did not have any spoke nipples break on my previous bike. I think it might be that my fork was stiffer than it should be and when I went off a drop they snapped but im not sure. Any ideas of why they broke will be a great help and thanks in advance!

    • #89998

      Had the same thing happen with a cheap set of prebuilt wheels I got from Performance Bikes. Luckily they fixed it for free. Never really got specific answer "why" it happened but I’m guessing it has something to do with cheap parts and poor building techniques. Parts obviously are out of your hands unless you plan to replace them but you can fix building technique issues.

      Not sure if you ever oiled the nipples or if the builder did but that may play a part in reducing friction against the rim. Another build issue could be whether or not the spokes were evenly tensioned when the wheel was trued. If not, it’s probably safe to assume that certain nipples were under heavier stress than others and this lead to them breaking. Even if you didn’t build those wheels, both of those are things you ought to check to make sure your wheel is in the best condition possible.

    • #89999

      That actually makes sense thank you. It probably broke as a result of the spokes were at different tensions because i recently brought in my bike for a tune-up and they probably did not properly true my wheel.

    • #90000

      your lucky that just the nipples broke, ive actually seen spoke nipples get pulled thru the rim from them not being evenly tensioned, but thats usually from using brass nipples as the aluminum ones tend to break before that can happen. the only way to prevent the nipples from breaking is to have someone build your wheel that actually knows how, i would say that maybe 1 out of 3 mechanics knows how to actually build a wheel the right way and properly tension balance it, most mechanics can true a wheel but few can actually build one, one way to somewhat know if they built your wheel right is that when you first go to ride it youll hear NO pinging sounds from your wheel, that means that they most likely relived the tension on the wheel to unwind the spokes and re trued and tensioned it, if you do hear pinging sounds then that means they didnt relive the tension to unwind the spokes which means that at the first sound of the ping your wheel is already out of true and most likely not at the right tension anymore. as just a general rule no pinging on the first ride is usually a sign of a good wheel build.

    • #90001

      How hard is it to true your wheels? What special tools does it require?

      I have some slight squeaking in my brakes, mostly at low speeds, and upon inspection it appears to be the result of the wheels being slightly out of line causing the rotors to rub. The wheels are about a year old and have several hundred miles of root- and rock-pounding trails under them. I’m not really surprised that they are no longer true, but I don’t know what the norm is. If you ride on a regular basis, how often is truing typically required?

    • #90002

      A tensiometer is the best way to check the tensions of your spokes but you may not want to fork over the $$$ for one. In this case, the pluck method works pretty well to see if tensions are relatively even on your spokes. Pluck the spokes on one side of the wheel’s hub like you would a guitar string and the pitch of the strings should all be pretty close. Higher tensioned spokes will have a higher pitch.

      Again, check the spokes on one side of the hub at a time. Remember, different sides of the hub will have different tensions for most wheels. This is to account for offset caused by the cassette and the disc brake if your wheels have them. Front wheels without disc brakes have the same tension on both sides.

      If you only find one or two spokes out of range and are feeling brave you can probably fix the issue yourself since you already know how to true the wheel. If the spoke is high, bring the tension down and raise the tension of its neighbor spokes on that side of the hub. Small adjustments (1/8 to 1/4 of a turn at a time). Make sure to pre-stress the wheel afterwards. Recheck the trueness of the wheel afterwards and make neccessary adjustments to the other side of the hub.

      If you feel like the spoke tensions are kind of all over the map, the best way to fix the issue would be to start over and detension all the spokes and retension the entire wheel as if you were building it from new. It’s not incredibly hard, just pretty time consuming. It’d help you to pick up a book on wheel tensioning or just pay to have it done. Good luck.

    • #90003
      "fleetwood" wrote

      How hard is it to true your wheels? What special tools does it require?

      I have some slight squeaking in my brakes, mostly at low speeds, and upon inspection it appears to be the result of the wheels being slightly out of line causing the rotors to rub. The wheels are about a year old and have several hundred miles of root- and rock-pounding trails under them. I’m not really surprised that they are no longer true, but I don’t know what the norm is. If you ride on a regular basis, how often is truing typically required?

      It might be helpful for you to read Element’s post on building a wheel. If you just want to know how to true the wheel, start at the section titled "true and tension your wheel." Also, check out parktools.com or sheldonbrown.com to get another perspective. Even though the articles mention needing several tools to do the job, you can do a "home job" with little more than a flat head screw driver, a zip tie on your fork post, and a spoke tool.

      How often you have to true the wheel depends on a number of factors including the quality of the build, the quality of the components, your riding style, your weight, and how often you ride. If you have put several hundred hard miles on your wheels, now is probably a normal time for them to need some love.

    • #90004
      "fleetwood" wrote

      I have some slight squeaking in my brakes, mostly at low speeds, and upon inspection it appears to be the result of the wheels being slightly out of line causing the rotors to rub.

      that rub in your brakes if thier disc is actually the disc rotor being out of true and has nothing to do with your wheel being out of true, also the rub could be from poorly adjusted hub bearings, or worn out cartridge bearings.

    • #90005
      "trailrider247" wrote

      [quote="fleetwood":1w6t3wxr]I have some slight squeaking in my brakes, mostly at low speeds, and upon inspection it appears to be the result of the wheels being slightly out of line causing the rotors to rub.

      that rub in your brakes if thier disc is actually the disc rotor being out of true and has nothing to do with your wheel being out of true, also the rub could be from poorly adjusted hub bearings, or worn out cartridge bearings.[/quote:1w6t3wxr]

      So how hard is it to true the rotor?

    • #90006
      "fleetwood" wrote

      [quote="trailrider247":820lc2kx][quote="fleetwood":820lc2kx]I have some slight squeaking in my brakes, mostly at low speeds, and upon inspection it appears to be the result of the wheels being slightly out of line causing the rotors to rub.

      that rub in your brakes if thier disc is actually the disc rotor being out of true and has nothing to do with your wheel being out of true, also the rub could be from poorly adjusted hub bearings, or worn out cartridge bearings.[/quote:820lc2kx]

      So how hard is it to true the rotor?[/quote:820lc2kx]
      its not really that hard, all you need is an adjustble wrench to bend the rotor back to being true, first clean the jaws on your adjustble wrench with some rubbing alcohol, then youll need to spin your wheel while still being mounted in your fork or frame and listen for the rub when it travels thru the caliper, when you hear the rub, try to figure out what side the rotor is rubbing the pad, once you figure that out spin the wheel 180 degrees from the caliper, take your adjustble wrench and slide the jaws over the rotor and adjust the wrench untill you get a firm grip, then gently bend the rotor in the direction away from where it was rubbing, youll need to do that as many times as it takes to get your rotor back to true, but if you keep finding that you cant get the rotor true then that might be a sign that the rotor needs to be replaced, one sure way to know if it needs to be replaced is to measure the thickness of the rotor, most rotors need to be replaced when they reach a thickness of 1.5mm.

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