[miamibiker]

HI,

I'm a Newbee here. I've been riding a Specialized crossroads for a few weeks now. I've a little on the heavy side. My spokes in rear broke twice and I'm thinking of buying a differant wheel. what can i buy so this won't happen again. Do you guys have any suggestions?

One more thing,what's the Pro and cons of riding with a leather seat or its just preference.

Thanks,

 

[orange_julius]

HI,

I'm a Newbee here. I've been riding a Specialized crossroads for a few weeks now. I've a little on the heavy side. My spokes in rear broke twice and I'm thinking of buying a differant wheel. what can i buy so this won't happen again. Do you guys have any suggestions?

One more thing,what's the Pro and cons of riding with a leather seat or its just preference.

Thanks,

Do you inflate your tires to proper pressure and do you get your wheels serviced (for trueness and spoke tension adjustment) regularly?

 

[dougydee]

I've a little on the heavy side.

How heavy and what type of wheels?

 

[rward325]

Crosstrail, Crosstrail sport, Crosstrail Elite or Crosstrail Comp? This is apretty Heavy Duty bike and should not be popping spokes. Can you give us some measurements, Height and weight would be a good start.

All of the bikes in this series come with Alex Crosstrail, 700c, alloy double wall w/ machine sidewalls, 32h and 15g Stainless spokes.

 

[fallzboater]

Properly built and tensioned wheels don't need regular service, unless damaged. Spoke breakage indicates a poor build, innapropriate components, and/or defects.

Have the offending wheel respoked with DT Competitions and tensioned and stress relieved by someone that knows what they're doing (not necessarily found at your LBS), or buy a new wheel (or set) that has been built to suit your weight and budget (probably not found on the wall at your LBS).

 

[rward325]

Properly built and tensioned wheels don't need regular service, unless damaged. Spoke breakage indicates a poor build, innapropriate components, and/or defects.

Have the offending wheel respoked with DT Competitions and tensioned and stress relieved by someone that knows what they're doing (not necessarily found at your LBS), or buy a new wheel (or set) that has been built to suit your weight and budget (probably not found on the wall at your LBS).

I will admit these are machine made wheels on a lower end Specialized bike but they should still be fairly bullet proof at 32h 15g stainless spokes.

Telling the person that they need to put out a big chunk of change to buy new wheels or have them respoked on a bike that is likely under warranty is a pretty silly thing to do.

 

[Marc]

I will admit these are machine made wheels on a lower end Specialized bike but they should still be fairly bullet proof at 32h 15g stainless spokes.

Telling the person that they need to put out a big chunk of change to buy new wheels or have them respoked on a bike that is likely under warranty is a pretty silly thing to do.

Meh. When I was a noobsauce, I had a Specialized Sirrus hybrid. Wheels were Ritchey hubs, laced to CXP22 rims, with double butted spokes. Those wheels were crap and started breaking spokes left and right within 500 miles or so.

Being a major bike label doesn't prevent you from selling poorly made wheels.

 

[fallzboater]

I will admit these are machine made wheels on a lower end Specialized bike but they should still be fairly bullet proof at 32h 15g stainless spokes.

Telling the person that they need to put out a big chunk of change to buy new wheels or have them respoked on a bike that is likely under warranty is a pretty silly thing to do.

I didn't say anything about a big chunk of change, but yeah, if it's under warranty he should take advantage of that first. That didn't occur to me since I don't buy complete new bikes, or prebuilt wheels.

If he's lucky, the LBS will realize that he'll likely continue to have problems with a prebuilt replacement wheel out of the box, and someone with some skills will at least retension and stress-relieve it before they send him back out. If he's very heavy, or abusive, they could put a stiffer inexpensive rim and new high quality spokes on the OE hub for a fair bit less than $100, I would hope. Better still might be to buy a good replacement wheel from a specialist for about the same money.

 

[dysfunction]

I had a specy wheel bust spokes within the first 1000 miles.. LBS got spec to pay for them to rebuild the thing. Was a much better wheel after being hand laced.

 

[miamibiker]

Hi, thanks for all responses . a little info about me might help. I'm 5'10 weighting about 310. i bike ride 2-three times a week for about 2 hrs roughly 20 or so miles. Both times my spokes broke on my way home back. I went to the bike shop where i bought the bike. there weren't much of a help. i felt they were more interested in my $$$$ then helping me with my problem. He wanted 30.$$ to fix my spoke and he couldn't give me any advice how to prevent my occurring problem. I've been to a few bike shops around Miami i had not found one that i feel they know what they are doing. Thats why i'm trying to learn and do research and speak to others online, so i'll be able to help my self and save myself the frustration of searching for a good shop.

 

[bikerjulio]

Hi, the weight will come down. just keep riding. meanwhile you need a really HD set of wheels. old school 36 spoke laced to open pros or similar. find someone who can do this. good luck.

 

[miamibiker]

where can i find such a set of tires ???

 

[Fredrico]

That's the ticket.

Hi, the weight will come down. just keep riding. meanwhile you need a really HD set of wheels. old school 36 spoke laced to open pros or similar. find someone who can do this. good luck.

google wheel builders. Colorado Cyclist used to do this. Hand built 36 spoked "touring" wheels would handle the load best, with no less than 28C tires, 32C if possible.

 

[miamibiker]

Thank you !!

 

[GerryR]

Before buying anything, contact Specialized and tell them bluntly that the LBS won't do anything. The bike is under warranty and Specialized has a money back guarantee. Or just go to the LBS and demand a refund, in full and go somewhere else and buy another brand.

And increase your riding to at least 4 days a week and drastically change your diet, forget meat, dairy and egg products and concentrate on vegetables, fruits and whole grains. No fast food of any kind.

 

[Marc]

Or just go to the LBS and demand a refund, in full and go somewhere else and buy another brand.

I can't think of any bike label sold in stores that sells roadbikes with 36h wheels. To get those you pretty much have to get custom handbuilts.

 

[nightfend]

And increase your riding to at least 4 days a week and drastically change your diet, forget meat, dairy and egg products and concentrate on vegetables, fruits and whole grains. No fast food of any kind.

...whatever. I wouldn't cut out meat and dairy. No way. And, you don't need to. Simply continuing to ride will make a huge difference in the long-term.

 

[miamibiker]

What type of wheels should i buy ?
Does it make sense to buy only one rear tire?

 

[Argentius]

Heavier Duty

I hate to say it, but, no factory-built wheelset, on any OE road bike will be suitable to your weight.

I don't think you necessarily need 36 spokes -- 32 will do -- but you need high-end spokes. The wheelbuilders I know would say to get Sapim CX-rays if you can afford them, Dt Comps if you want to go a little easier on your budget.

Where are the spokes breaking? If it is at the nipple, that is what you would expect from a fatigued spoke. Warranties cover defects, and even if Spec. is willing to send you replacement wheels, they will likely send another pair of same.

In my tele-opinion, what you are describing does not SEEM the result of a defective condition -- that is, unexpected materials failure. Your wheels just seen unable to support the load supplied.

I also note that you are in Miami. The climate there is VERY hard on spokes, especially less expensive OE ones, which tend to be either painted / chrome plated non-stainless steel, or else a lower grade of stainless.

Nicer spokes will resist corrosion better, but it would not hurt to wipe down your spokes after riding.

 

[Fredrico]

Good points.

I hate to say it, but, no factory-built wheelset, on any OE road bike will be suitable to your weight.

I don't think you necessarily need 36 spokes -- 32 will do -- but you need high-end spokes. The wheelbuilders I know would say to get Sapim CX-rays if you can afford them, Dt Comps if you want to go a little easier on your budget.

Where are the spokes breaking? If it is at the nipple, that is what you would expect from a fatigued spoke. Warranties cover defects, and even if Spec. is willing to send you replacement wheels, they will likely send another pair of same.

In my tele-opinion, what you are describing does not SEEM the result of a defective condition -- that is, unexpected materials failure. Your wheels just seen unable to support the load supplied.

I also note that you are in Miami. The climate there is VERY hard on spokes, especially less expensive OE ones, which tend to be either painted / chrome plated non-stainless steel, or else a lower grade of stainless.

Nicer spokes will resist corrosion better, but it would not hurt to wipe down your spokes after riding.

Machine built wheels can't tension the spokes exactly the same all the way around the rim, so some spokes flex too much and break, or others don't flex at all and break. If the spokes are hand tensioned all the same, the load is distributed evenly on all the spokes, and they are much less likely to break.

I'd build with 14 ga. stainless steel spokes. With brass nipples. Stay away from aluminum! DT has worked superbly well for me over the years. Never broke one. And I'm witness to the longevity of 36 spokes. A set on my commuter, which I bought from Colorado Cyclist in the late 80s and trued and re-tensioned maybe twice, I"m still riding, at least 50,000 miles later. The rims will have to be replaced soon because the sides are getting thin from the braking, and might very well split sooner or later on a hard bump.

It is true, the more spokes in a wheel, the stronger it is. I think loading up 300+ pounds on a 32 spoked rim might be flirting with the limits, and would therefore add those 4 extra spokes. Back when rims weren't as strong, 40 spoked rear wheels weren't uncommon for serious touring bikes. They hardly ever broke, and if one did, you'd make it home just fine..