American Classic Spokes

[FanieFiets]

willie engelbrecht get a decent wheelbuilder in twice a week. Just organised that just 'fix' my wheels.

[Marius]

Ok, I did my first ride last night and nothing broke, yaaay!!! Lets see how it goes tonight for round two! I'm having it re-build as soon as it's breaking, so I'm actually hoping it does. Thx Swiss! will some Biltong and droewors be a good exchange

[smallrebel]

Marius, I hope they don't brake on the DC..................

[SwissVan]

Ok' date=' I did my first ride last night and nothing broke, yaaay!!! Lets see how it goes tonight for round two! I'm having it re-build as soon as it's breaking, so I'm actually hoping it does. Thx Swiss! will some Biltong and droewors be a good exchange[/quote']

 

All biltong and droewors donations will be gladly consumed.

 

If you want a box of spokes PM me the type, size and color - i will check how much droewors you will need to provide.

[MWdeJager]

M, hoe lank het daai ACs gehou voor die eerste speek gebreek het?  Jy het daai wiele net voor laasjaar se DC gekoop en in die Argus het jou eerste speek gebreek, dink ek.

 

Anyway.  Dit wil voorkom of die wiel goed is vir max 5 maande, dan gaan die speke begin k*k.  So begin sommer nou te budget, nie laat ek dink jy steur jou aan 'n budget as dit by jou cycling kom nie, om daai wiele elke 5 maande te laat rebuild.  Dit gee jou sommer plenty tyd om 'n stel nuwe speke in te voer ook.

[Marius]

Dink nie ke sal n probleem he met die DT Swiss Spokes nie MW, ek het hulle op my MTB en hy vat baie punishment with no breaks. Die probleem is die bladed spokes wat op die AC's is. Don't worry, as ek dit Rebuild met DT's en nog steeds speke breek dan koop ek myself n nice ander wheelset, sal solank begin spaar.

[Mudsimus]

Ek het myne nou met gewone silver dt speke gebou, lyk nie te bad nie. Sal dit die naweek uitprobeer..

[ZeroPlay]

Spokes breaking usually has nothing to do with the quality of the spokes themselves (so choose whatever decent quality spokes you like) and everything to do with how well the wheel was built.

As mentioned already, even spoke tension (and fairly high tension) is the key.  It's easier to build a wheel with low spoke tension, but then the spokes bend at the elbow as the wheel rotates, causing fatigue and failure at the elbow.  This happens especially on the non-drive side (the side without the cassette) of the rear wheels, since these have to be tensioned less than the drive side to keep the rear wheel dished correctly.

 

I can't recommend a good wheelbuilder - I build mine myself and although I think I'm not bad, it takes me far too long to do to make it worthwhile to do anyone else's.  Someone suggested Willie Engelbrecht's wheel builder, and I've always been impressed by the professional service I've received there, so I can believe that he'd insist on having someone who knows what he's doing build the wheels for him.

 

If you ask the builder if he stress-relieves the spokes and he knows what you're talking about (and answers yes), that's a good sign.  BTW, stress relieving is squeezing together pairs of spokes on the same side of the wheel to distribute the stresses on the spoke more evenly.  I'm sure you can find the details with Google if you're interested.

 

I also suggest you go with brass nipples (not aluminium), either dry or greased (no loctite/freeze).  This will make repairing the wheel in future easier, and help the wheelbuilder do a good job in the first place.  The very small weight saving from using aluminium nipples is not worth it, IMO.

[Mudsimus]

I rebuilt mine. But with closer inspection I found that the holes on the hub were drilled deeper on the one side than the other. I'll take this up with the supplier.

[FanieFiets]

Zeroplay - Having my wheel rebuild at willie tuesday. R 230-00 with new nipples.