Not a spoke breaker
There's a reason spokes break. They're not tight enough. At least with multi-speed freewheels the left side spokes aren't tight enough. They're that way on purpose.
Grab two left side spokes. Feel the tension. Now grab two right side and feel the tension. The right side spokes are really tight to pull the hub to the left/pull the rim to the right in order to center the rim and allow room for the cogs on the freewheel.
The more sprockets (cogs) on the freewheel (or freehub in the case of 7, 8, 9 speed and above) the more the wheel is dished. I would never go over 6 cogs. 5 is much better for our purpose. I tighten up the spokes on the left side as much as I can without altering the dish too much.
Also, check the spacers/locknuts on the axle. Sometimes you can put thinner spacers and/or locknuts to give you some room to lessen the dish. You might have to add spacing to one side or the other. You might have to run the rim a smidgen closer to the left side stays.
I run at least 36 spoke wheels, the bigger the spokes the better. At least cross 3, with cross 4 being better.
Learn to true your own wheels. It's not hard and can be done on the bike if you're lazy and don't want to put the wheels on a stand. It's much easier to keep one true than to true it up after it becomes wobbly. But even that isn't hard.
Just do whatever you can to lessen dish and tighten left side spokes.
If you haven't yet signed up for Harbor Freight's email list/Preferred Customer List. Print the coupons and save. Also all you have to do is ask "Can I get this for the online price?" (which you already checked, right?) and they happily sell it to you for that.
If I had to get a job () I'd try to get hired at HF. Just think - an employee discount, too.
Ted
There's a reason spokes break. They're not tight enough. At least with multi-speed freewheels the left side spokes aren't tight enough. They're that way on purpose.
Grab two left side spokes. Feel the tension. Now grab two right side and feel the tension. The right side spokes are really tight to pull the hub to the left/pull the rim to the right in order to center the rim and allow room for the cogs on the freewheel.
The more sprockets (cogs) on the freewheel (or freehub in the case of 7, 8, 9 speed and above) the more the wheel is dished. I would never go over 6 cogs. 5 is much better for our purpose. I tighten up the spokes on the left side as much as I can without altering the dish too much.
Also, check the spacers/locknuts on the axle. Sometimes you can put thinner spacers and/or locknuts to give you some room to lessen the dish. You might have to add spacing to one side or the other. You might have to run the rim a smidgen closer to the left side stays.
I run at least 36 spoke wheels, the bigger the spokes the better. At least cross 3, with cross 4 being better.
Learn to true your own wheels. It's not hard and can be done on the bike if you're lazy and don't want to put the wheels on a stand. It's much easier to keep one true than to true it up after it becomes wobbly. But even that isn't hard.
Just do whatever you can to lessen dish and tighten left side spokes.
If you haven't yet signed up for Harbor Freight's email list/Preferred Customer List. Print the coupons and save. Also all you have to do is ask "Can I get this for the online price?" (which you already checked, right?) and they happily sell it to you for that.
If I had to get a job () I'd try to get hired at HF. Just think - an employee discount, too.
Ted
