Broken spokes on Fuji Touring

I am very happy with the Fuji Touring bike I bought late last year, except
for one thing. To date with about two thousand kilometres ridden, I have
broken six spokes in the rear wheel.
It started with one which didn't concern me much, then another, then another
then three in a week. One of the selling points for me was the 36 spoke
wheels, supposedly stronger than lower spoke count wheels.
Mechanic at LBS (but not where I purchased it) suggested cheap spokes are
the problem, which will require rebuilding with quality spokes.
I have never had this problem with any other bike I have owned. Anyone else
got one of these with this problem?
Peter Miller
Newcastle

Peter Miller wrote:
I am very happy with the Fuji Touring bike I bought late last year, except
for one thing. To date with about two thousand kilometres ridden, I have
broken six spokes in the rear wheel.
It started with one which didn't concern me much, then another, then another
then three in a week. One of the selling points for me was the 36 spoke
wheels, supposedly stronger than lower spoke count wheels.
Mechanic at LBS (but not where I purchased it) suggested cheap spokes are
the problem, which will require rebuilding with quality spokes.
I have never had this problem with any other bike I have owned. Anyone else
got one of these with this problem?

No, but the same thing happened on my Trek when I first bought it.
After the sixth or seventh spoke went in the first three months I bit
the bullet and had it re-built with DT spokes.

40,000 kms later I replaced the wheels because the rims were going, not
a broken spoke in the intervening period. Sometimes you just get a lemon.
--
Cheers | ~~ __@
Euan | ~~ _-\,
Melbourne, Australia | ~ (*)/ (*)

On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 12:30:37 +0000, Euan wrote:

40,000 kms later I replaced the wheels because the rims were going, not a
broken spoke in the intervening period. Sometimes you just get a lemon.

No, you get factory wheels with insufficient tension and/or not stress
relieved. That means the spokes are more prone to fatigue, which is why
they'll break.

If you retension factory wheels they'll normally last a lot longer. If the
spokes are already going the best option is a relace.

--
Dave Hughes |
A General Manager who was channeling Captain Bligh only without the
competent seamanship - Patrick R. Wade.

I have never had this problem with any other bike I have owned. Anyone
else
got one of these with this problem?
Peter Miller
NewcastleI have come across the same problem, the Fuji is a good bike but at the
lower end of cost for such a bike and the wheels are budget. Poor factory
construction, rebuild properly with quality spokes and you will wear
out the rims before you break another spoke.

CC


--
cogcontrol

I have never had this problem with any other bike I have owned. Anyone
else got one of these with this problem?

I normally wait until the third broken spoke and then rebuild the whole
wheel. DT are my spoke of choice. My rear training wheel (36x 14g straight
DT's & Mavic CXP16 deep rim) clocked up over 60,000km before needing
rebuilding. I listened to the LBS mechanic who built with sapim ... and
I've already broken one in under 6,000kms ;-(

spokes are a common way to cut costs at the sharper end of the
market/price range cos you dont see/notice em. BB's are the same.

just wish the feckers would go on the non-drive side


--
flyingdutch

Once a spoke has gone on a factory made wheel you should replace the
lot with some decent ones. Single spoke missing means other spokes have
to deal with additional load they can't deal with, maybe because they
are cheap?

My bike had one go, then a lot in quick succession. The wheel was
rebuild under warranty with DT Swiss spokes. Been rock solid ever
since.

Peter Miller wrote:
I am very happy with the Fuji Touring bike I bought late last year, except
for one thing. To date with about two thousand kilometres ridden, I have
broken six spokes in the rear wheel.
It started with one which didn't concern me much, then another, then another
then three in a week. One of the selling points for me was the 36 spoke
wheels, supposedly stronger than lower spoke count wheels.
Mechanic at LBS (but not where I purchased it) suggested cheap spokes are
the problem, which will require rebuilding with quality spokes.
I have never had this problem with any other bike I have owned. Anyone else
got one of these with this problem?
Peter Miller
Newcastle

Peter Miller wrote:
I am very happy with the Fuji Touring bike I bought late last year, except
for one thing. To date with about two thousand kilometres ridden, I have
broken six spokes in the rear wheel.
It started with one which didn't concern me much, then another, then another
then three in a week. One of the selling points for me was the 36 spoke
wheels, supposedly stronger than lower spoke count wheels.
Mechanic at LBS (but not where I purchased it) suggested cheap spokes are
the problem, which will require rebuilding with quality spokes.
I have never had this problem with any other bike I have owned. Anyone else
got one of these with this problem?
Peter Miller
Newcastle



I'm a heavy rider (now around 95kg) but have had problems
with breaking spokes for as long as I can remember. My old
touring bike had 36 spoke wheels, 27 X 1 1/4 rims and tires.
I would regularly ping spokes on the drive side rear and
have replaced them on the road several times.

More recently, I've been riding 700c wheels with 23mm tires
and have still had spoke breakages. 3 years ago I got a new
road bike with 32 butted spoke wheels. Shortly, I was breaking
spokes on the *non-drive* side of the rear wheel. After taking
it back and breaking more spokes on that side, I got that side
rebuilt with non-butted spokes and problems went away. The
LBS said that they had a bad batch of spokes of a particular
length that corresponded to that side.

These wheels have since been damaged (bike beak and speed hump)
and I got a pair of Campagnolo Scirroco wheels which have been
fantastic. There is debate about the merits of factory versus
handbuilt wheels but in my experience (3 pairs of factory wheels),
the factory wheels are fantastic - no broken spokes, run true,
rigid, responsive and feel great going around corners. By factory
wheels I don't mean machine built wheels which use standard hubs,
rims and spokes, I mean the campag, shimano or mavic wheels
that usually have non-standard components.

With the damaged wheels mentioned above I'm planning on salvaging
the hubs and lacing new rims and putting 25mm tires on for commuting
purposes. Wider tires will make for more comfort and less chance
of spoke breakages (I hope).

DeF.

--
e-mail: d.farrow@your finger.murdoch.edu.au
To reply, you'll have to remove your finger.

I am the original poster, thank you to everyone who replied.

I have contacted the shop I bought the bike from, explained the situation,
and they have agreed to rebuild the wheel with new Sapim spokes.

Peter Miller
Newcastle

Good outcome. Fair trading laws require goods to be fit for purpose. A
wheel that breaks spokes with normal riding is certainly not that. They
should rebuild it with not a cent cost to you. (Had such an experience
and eventually got that outcome after raising my voice in the shop).

Donga