Busted spokes.

[gamcgregor]

I ride a Trek 1000, approx. 4 years old. I have one that I ride in Michigan,  and one that I ride in Florida in the spring. Bought both at the same time. The Trek in Florida, has had 4 broken spokes (at different times), the Trek in Michigan has had none. Any reason a different climate would cause problems with spokes? Or is this just a coincedence.

[alfonso]

My guess is that you have been unlucky with the rear wheel of the
Floridian Trek. Factory built wheels are machine built to wide
tolerances. They are sometimes delivered with uneven tensions on the
spokes (even though they may appear resonably true); the uneven
tension eventually causes breakage. Replacing individual spokes simply
transfers the unevenness elsewhere in the wheel or means that the new
spoke takes on the excess tension. The solution in my case was to
have the wheel rebuilt by hand with new spokes. I never had a
breakage after that. Costs a bit but not excessive.

[gamcgregor]

Thanks, I was taking a guess that it might be something along those lines. I suppose it is still cheaper to get it rebuilt than to buy a new rear wheel. Thanks again.

[whittierider]

I would plan on getting a better wheel eventually though, especially if you planned to do any long-distance riding on it.  I and our younger son have had six Bontrager Select, Race, and Race Lite wheels in the last three years, and none of them lasted more than a few thousand miles before the rims had lots of cracks radiating out from the spoke holes.  Some of the wheels had other problems as well.  Interestingly, none of them broke spokes.  We haven't had any problems at all with any other kind of wheels, so it's not just us.  Bontragers have a terrible reputation.  I understand they've been listening though, and are in the process of fixing the problem.

[Clem]

You dont mention your weight. If you are a wide body like me, you probably could use more than the usual 36 (now 32) spoke rear wheels. I eventually went to 48. That may be overkill for someone lighter than me.

[gamcgregor]

As a matter of fact, the winter was hard on my weight, and it was this spring that i busted the four spokes in Florida. However i have rode about 26 every other day for the last 3 weeks in Michigan, and so far no bad spokes. I didn't realize you could get even more spokes on a wheel. Thanks for the suggestion.