I just went to pump up the tyres on a bike I haven’t ridden for a week or two. As I was removing the dust cap I noticed a spoke was loose. I pinged it and realised it was REALLY loose.
On further inspection I found three or four more close spokes that were equally loose, then one or two more on the other side of the wheel. Some of the spokes are so loose they are disappearing into the rim.
What on Earth could have caused this? I haven’t checked the wheel for a while, but I’m sure I’d have noticed if this had been going on for a while, I’m always fiddling about with my bikes. I’ve not been doing anything especially rough either.
Spoke tension is in balance so once you have a few loose ones, that means the other spokes also start to "pull" the wheel to them and become loose as a result. I'd say chances are it's just gone a little baggy over time and has hit a tipping point. Once a spoke's lost tension the nipple can work looser and looser from vibration and movement, the thing that really keeps them tight is the spoke tension so again there's a tipping point then.
I'd just retension it and carry on, see what happens.
Are they fairly new wheels? Can happen if the spokes were built wound up a lot and not stress relieved.
Can worn hub bearings not also cause this by putting odd forces on the spokes as the wheel wobbles? I seem to remember something from years ago about this
Thanks people.
The bike is 18 months old - I don't think that counts as new
Nice thought on the hub bearings. I checked them and they seem ok.
I don't mind tweaking a spoke every now and then but there are so many that are super-loose I think I might go visit a professional to get them sorted. I reckon Northwind must be rift, and they've just been slowly working loose, but it won't do any harm to get it checked by someone who knows what they are doing.
The bike is 18 months old – I don’t think that counts as new
No, definitely not. It'll happen first ride or wonky landing if it's a build issue.
Did someone reverse their car into it and not notice? Is the rim true?
I had a year or so old wheel basically seem to 'give up' holding tension many years ago (26"). I was told by the shop that it was often just poor build - no stressing the wheel, no threadlock etc.
I've also had old wheels where all the spokes just start snapping after 3-4 years of use...ahem
I’d just retension it and carry on, see what happens.
While I totally agree with this approach, I'd be interested to hear what rims and how many spokes...I had a Roval carbon (28H, double laced) that just wouldn't stay tight after it was replaced becasue the first one cracked. Never really did get to the bottom of why...The rim was straight, OK, fewer spokes than perhaps strictly necessary, but then I'm not the most rad/heaviest/clumsy rider ever. NDS wouldn't stay tight for more than a couple of rides, one to perhaps three or four (depending on where I was riding) spokes would generally come loose, got so annoyed with it, that I re-laced the whole wheel, and it still did it...Rim too stiff for the spokes? not enough spokes? Who knows, It's currently sat in my shed...One spoke hole now oversized (becasue of re-tensioning it all the time) so the rim is pretty much done.
Any snapped spokes ? Get double checking. Snapped at the thread so not obvious.
Had the same nickc with a roval carbon rim. Issue was the spoke tension relaxed so much under a pressurised tire it wend loose. Had to retension with an inflated tire and it has lasted for a couple of years like that.
The importance of de-stressing the spokes and getting even tension is often overlooked.
Definitely this, seen a few nightmares with this on friends wheels - despite it being one of the first lessons I learned in wheel building as a bike mechanic, nearly 30 years ago.
