Loose Spokes

[FezMember]

The ones I got were stainless. I have been for a bit of a blat this morning and a couple are loose but at least they didn’t come apart from the nipple and fall out. Am i right in saying that they will need checking before and after every ride. When I was a kid and had bikes I never had to touch the spoke(maybe the old man used to do it).Will tightening them all the time put my wheel out of balance? Cheers Guys.

[Bruce CurtisMember]

As long as the wheel is still true just nip the loose ones up, if the wheel isn’t true, maybe taking it back to the shop for a little “after sales service” would be warranted, I’ve got a good mate who builds wheels for fun and his very rarely come loose as you are describing, sure they settle a bit bit not like that. having said that, the quality of the spokes and rim come into play alot here and that is quite often outside of the wheel lacers’ control.

Bruce C.

[drewMember]

Admin wrote:

Quote:

Menace, Eagle and XY Transit please just in the tech help forum can we stay on topic, TB put the below out on behalf of the admin team its the rules of engagement in the tech forum

Quote:

Please limit the amount of dribble and crap slinging in the tech help thread, if some one has posted here its because they need help or can help. Any posts that we the Admin team think are non constructive, aren’t helpful or aren’t asking a question will be moderated, there are plenty of other places to carry on the OBT way. Other than that same same as per the normal OBT :laugh:

Admin Team

Thank you

Yeah Sorry Fez and Admin.

they say people pick on others to make them selves feel better about them self.

i apologise for taking liberties, Again.:blush:

>>>>>>>

now just a thought i had and wanted to ask.

With the rate alloy can grow and shrink with temperature changes.

i know on a rim it would be minimal.

however if there was a 1/4 mm on each spoke, it could mean up to 9mm difference over 36 spokes? could it not?

but if it was asembled and tightened / tuned at ( warm workshop temp ) and then ridden in the morning maybe considerably cooler/ cold, as Fez did,

could this cause any spokes that were borderline/ just tight enough to be loose?

[Bruce CurtisMember]

xy-transit wrote:

Quote:

now just a thought i had and wanted to ask.

With the rate alloy can grow and shrink with temperature changes.

i know on a rim it would be minimal.

however if there was a 1/4 mm on each spoke, it could mean up to 9mm difference over 36 spokes? could it not?

but if it was asembled and tightened / tuned at ( warm workshop temp ) and then ridden in the morning maybe considerably cooler/ cold, as Fez did,

could this cause any spokes that were borderline/ just tight enough to be loose?[/i][/size]

But it would not be 9mm acumulatively as the spokes are arranged in such a way as the max in the shrinkage scenario you are talking abou would be .5mm across the wheel at any given point, and if tensioned correctly would not be noticeable, except as rub on the crossovers maybe.

Good thinking though.

BC

[drewMember]

yes well BC it was a stab in the dark.

and i’m still not sure if i should have multiplied by .25 as i did or if it should have been .025 witch would have been a bit closer to your 1/2 mm.

[DavidMember]

As something to check, most spokes have a little turn or kink in the last few mm’s at the hub end, I have myself when installing new spokes (the 576 does spokes almost every grippy ride) had the spokes turn a few degrees when tightening and this wont allow the tapered end to bed in then this in turn keeps the spoke out from its normal position, to fix this I have a little technique of tightening where I turn the thing the correct way about 1/4 then turn 1/8 backwards , I only do this on the last few tightening turns as the constant going backwards and forwards stops the little bent end from fouling, I hate trueing wheels so I always take it to the shop if a whole wheel needs to be replaced and I always check spokes when it comes home and quite often you find one or two that are hooked up this way and left unattended these would appear loose straight away, good news is in most cases it will settle and a quick check will be all that is required
Hope you understand and hope it may help

[drewMember]

yes that makes a lot of sense!

more than my temp diff theory! :unsure:

[Anonymous]

xy-transit wrote:

Quote:

more than my temp diff theory! :unsure:

The thermal expansion coefficient for 304 stainless at a diameter similar to a spoke is 0.00001728 m/m-°C. Taking into account the spoke length for an 18″ rear wheel and a tempereture differentail of 20°C relative expansion of the spoke is 0.00010368 m or 0.10368mm. This is total expansion of the spoke so the expansion for any given end can be approximated as half of this value.

A spoke made with a material with a higher coefficient of thermal expansion will expand more, however, not enough be causing a problem like the one stated.

[KIEREN BROWNMember]

When trueing or tightening the last little bit, 1/4 forwards and 1/8 back like KTMRat said is a good idea. Not only does it stop the angle section twisting around, it will also relieve the twisting tension in the spoke. This tension will normally settle itself out as soon as the bike starts rolling but if you can relieve it beforehand while fixing your wheel, its more likely to stay true and spokes stay tight.

If spokes are continually coming loose or breaking the wheel really needs to be rebuilt altogether but in this case it sounds like you could just use a drop of WEAK loctite to help them stay tight. Remove the tyre/tube/rim tape and just put a small drop on the end of the spoke/nipple, it should wick its way in to the threads fine. Make sure you get the right one though, sometimes even nail polish can work as a weak thread locker. Get the wrong one and you’ll be cutting the spokes out of the wheel!

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