replacing bladed spokes with straight gauge?

Hi all,

I just bought an old wheelset off ebay. Standard stuff, Mavic-MA-40's
laced to Dura-Ace hubs. Here's where it gets tricky. The front wheel
had bladed spokes, one of which broke at the head. I'm assuming this
is FedEx's fault, but whatever.

Can I simply replace the bladed spoke with a regular straight gauge
spoke of the same length? The bladed spokes do not have regular spoke
heads, but instead seem to be clipped off at what would be the head.
I'm not very familiar with this type of set-up. Would "round" spokes
mesh well with the flat/bladed spokes in terms of tension, etc...?

wrote:
I just bought an old wheelset off ebay. Standard stuff, Mavic-MA-40's
laced to Dura-Ace hubs. Here's where it gets tricky. The front wheel
had bladed spokes, one of which broke at the head. I'm assuming this
is FedEx's fault, but whatever.

Can I simply replace the bladed spoke with a regular straight gauge
spoke of the same length? The bladed spokes do not have regular spoke
heads, but instead seem to be clipped off at what would be the head.
I'm not very familiar with this type of set-up. Would "round" spokes
mesh well with the flat/bladed spokes in terms of tension, etc...?

Yes a regular round spoke can replace a bladed Z-head spoke. Tension is
just tension, no problem.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Thanks for the quick reply. I bought my first bike shorts at Yellow
Jersey in 1993!

MIke

wrote:
Hi all,

I just bought an old wheelset off ebay. Standard stuff, Mavic-MA-40's
laced to Dura-Ace hubs. Here's where it gets tricky. The front wheel
had bladed spokes, one of which broke at the head. I'm assuming this
is FedEx's fault, but whatever.

more likely, just spoke fatigue - unless there's evidence of mechanical
damage.



Can I simply replace the bladed spoke with a regular straight gauge
spoke of the same length? The bladed spokes do not have regular spoke
heads, but instead seem to be clipped off at what would be the head.
I'm not very familiar with this type of set-up. Would "round" spokes
mesh well with the flat/bladed spokes in terms of tension, etc...?

yes, you can replace the spoke with an ordinary.


extreme pedantry warning
however, technically at least, you need to try to ensure the cross
section area of the replacement is the same as the original bladed spoke
so that their elasticities are the same. i.e. if it's a 2mm spoke
that's simply been flattened, not also elongated, the cross section will
be roughly the same and all will be fine. but if it's been elongated,
and the total cross section area reduced, a round 2mm replacement will
have a greater cross section area and thus be less elastic and therefore
not match the stiffness of other spokes.

tension does not affect elasticity, so just matching tensions doesn't
avoid this issue.


will all this make a noticeable difference to ride? unlikely. will it
make a difference to fatigue life? long term, quite possibly. overall,
it's best to replace with another identical spoke. or replace the 31
others to match your single new spoke.

On Mar 13, 6:59*pm, jim beam wrote:


yes, you can replace the spoke with an ordinary.

...extreme pedantry warning...

will all this make a noticeable difference to ride? *unlikely. *will it
make a difference to fatigue life? *long term, quite possibly. *overall,
it's best to replace with another identical spoke. *or replace the 31
others to match your single new spoke.

Hmm. Have others broken many front spokes by fatigue?

Admittedly, I don't break spokes very often at all, perhaps because of
using 36 spoke wheels on almost all of our bikes (and other reasons
I'd better not mention). But the only (two) times I've ever broken a
front spoke have been on our tandem, while muscling the handlebars to
keep balance during very slow parking lot turns. Never broke a front
spoke on a "single" bike.

Are others' experiences different?

- Frank Krygowski

In article
,
wrote:

On Mar 13, 6:59*pm, jim beam wrote:


yes, you can replace the spoke with an ordinary.

...extreme pedantry warning...

will all this make a noticeable difference to ride? *unlikely. *will it
make a difference to fatigue life? *long term, quite possibly. *overall,
it's best to replace with another identical spoke. *or replace the 31
others to match your single new spoke.

Hmm. Have others broken many front spokes by fatigue?

Admittedly, I don't break spokes very often at all, perhaps because of
using 36 spoke wheels on almost all of our bikes (and other reasons
I'd better not mention). But the only (two) times I've ever broken a
front spoke have been on our tandem, while muscling the handlebars to
keep balance during very slow parking lot turns. Never broke a front
spoke on a "single" bike.

Are others' experiences different?

- Frank Krygowski

I only once broke a spoke on a front wheel. It was a wheel I had built
as a 'project'; it featured 36 spokes with multiple intertwines.

All my other front wheels (usually 36 spokes, 3x) have never suffered
from broken spokes - even those tacoed through misadventure.

jim beam wrote:
yes, you can replace the spoke with an ordinary.
...extreme pedantry warning...
will all this make a noticeable difference to ride? unlikely. will it
make a difference to fatigue life? long term, quite possibly. overall,
it's best to replace with another identical spoke. or replace the 31
others to match your single new spoke.

wrote:
Hmm. Have others broken many front spokes by fatigue?
Admittedly, I don't break spokes very often at all, perhaps because of
using 36 spoke wheels on almost all of our bikes (and other reasons
I'd better not mention). But the only (two) times I've ever broken a
front spoke have been on our tandem, while muscling the handlebars to
keep balance during very slow parking lot turns. Never broke a front
spoke on a "single" bike.
Are others' experiences different?

Luke wrote:
I only once broke a spoke on a front wheel. It was a wheel I had built
as a 'project'; it featured 36 spokes with multiple intertwines.
All my other front wheels (usually 36 spokes, 3x) have never suffered
from broken spokes - even those tacoed through misadventure.

You guys have never dropped cargo into your front wheel?
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Mar 14, 5:51 pm, A Muzi wrote:[i]

wrote:
Hmm. Have others broken many front spokes by fatigue? ...
Never broke a front spoke on a "single" bike.
Are others' experiences different?
Luke wrote:
I only once broke a spoke on a front wheel. It was a wheel I had built
as a 'project'; it featured 36 spokes with multiple intertwines.
All my other front wheels (usually 36 spokes, 3x) have never suffered
from broken spokes - even those tacoed through misadventure.

You guys have never dropped cargo into your front wheel?

Nope.

But if I broke a spoke that way, I wouldn't attribute it to fatigue.

- Frank Krygowski