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Twisted spokes on rebuilt wheel

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  • March 20, 2017 at 9:32 pm #26914
    nevs

    Some advice please.

    I have just had my rear wheel rebuilt by my LBS to replace the rim.  I have just noticed that quite a few of the bladed spokes are twised about 30 degrees towards the rim end.  This doesn’t seem right to me, besides not being so aero, I would not expect spokes to be designed to support this kind of tension.

    Am I right to be worried about this? – the bike shop told me the wheel was better than new because it had been handbuilt – and if so, is it easy to rectify?

    Thank you.

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Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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  • March 25, 2017 at 9:03 pm #889415
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    matthewn5

    Can’t you just use a flat

    Can’t you just use a flat spoke holder and a nipple key to simultaneously turn the spoke and nipple into the right orientation together? It’s no biggie.

    March 22, 2017 at 9:34 am #889413
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    adamthekiwi

    I’d be very surprised if they

    I’d be very surprised if they’ve threadlocked the nipple – and I’d seriously consider a new wheel builder. How are you supposed to true the wheel if the nipples are gummed up with threadlock?

    Normally, spoke windup is due to not greasing/lubing the spoke thread during the build (or using alu nipples). As others have pointed out, there are specific tools for bladed spokes to help prevent this, too. I’d honestly be wary about returning a wheel to someone who gave it me in the condition you described. A basic truing stand is not expensive, and the other tools you need are dirt cheap – and Jobst Brandt’s book ‘The Bicycle Wheel’ is worth every penny.

    IanEdward wrote:
    I always thought it was wheelbuilder 101 to de-stress the spokes frequently during the build to prevent them twisting […]

    Actually, “de-stressing” (stress-relieving) is more about evening out the overall stress in the spoke – some parts of it (the elbow and the crossings, mainly) are at or beyond yield stress during tensioning, whereas the bulk of the spoke is in elastic stress. The cyclic loading of a rotating wheel can cause premature failure in areas at yield stress – so stress relieving takes these areas briefly beyond yield (effectively, causing slight plastic deformation), and then allows them to settle back into the elastic zone – thus increasing the spoke’s life under normal loading.

    March 22, 2017 at 6:07 am #889411
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    beezus fufoon

    IanEdward wrote:

    IanEdward wrote:
    Having a very short ride on it mighten’t hurt, you might hear some wee pings and tinkles as the spokes detension under your weight and unwind, could be quite satisfying! You could replicate this with the wheel off the bike by (carefully) applying your weight to the wheel with the wheel vertical on the ground and your weight applied to the rim at 12 o’clock. Rotate wheel slightly and repeat until pings and tinkles stop. You might find the spokes have corrected themselves and could then just get shop to double check true + tension…

    agreed, when you build a wheel it will ping a bit when you first apply some pressure, and a 30 degree spoke might not put the wheel out of true… or it might… I would try it out first

    mavic used to give you a separate tool to straighten their bladed spokes, and now it is incorporated into their tyre lever/hub adjuster multi-tool – if the wheel is running true and round then I don’t think it such a big deal to move a few spokes 30 degrees tbh

    March 21, 2017 at 10:08 pm #889409
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    IanEdward

    Having a very short ride on
    Having a very short ride on it mighten’t hurt, you might hear some wee pings and tinkles as the spokes detension under your weight and unwind, could be quite satisfying!

    You could replicate this with the wheel off the bike by (carefully) applying your weight to the wheel with the wheel vertical on the ground and your weight applied to the rim at 12 o’clock. Rotate wheel slightly and repeat until pings and tinkles stop.

    You might find the spokes have corrected themselves and could then just get shop to double check true + tension…

    March 21, 2017 at 6:02 pm #889407
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    nevs

    Thank you all for your
    Thank you all for your thoughts.

    IanEdward – haven’t ridden it yet. I want to make sure it is right first. What you say makes sense, if the spokes unwind, then their tension will change and the wheel will be out of true. They have used threadlock on the nipples so the unwiding would be the nipple moving inside the rim-which is still a change in tension. I will definitely ask them to sort this out.

    March 21, 2017 at 4:45 pm #889405
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    SingleSpeed

    That is frankly shocking!

    That is frankly shocking!

     

    Photographs, Name & Shame then take it to a decent wheelbuilders.

    March 21, 2017 at 4:43 pm #889403
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    MrMajic

    That sounds wrong to me,

    That sounds wrong to me, partucularly as there’s more than one out. I noticed one bladed spoke on my rear WH9000 was out and asked the mechanic I use: He said if the wheel’s true it’s ok to orientate to how it should be. I did this carefully (wrapped it in tape and used some large flat grips) and it popped back to where it should be. Haven’t ridden since but I’ll keep an eye on it.

    March 21, 2017 at 1:38 pm #889401
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    IanEdward

    I’d have thought it WAS a

    I’d have thought it WAS a problem, as the spokes are only twisted by the wheelbuilder attempting to tighten/loosen the spoke nipple. If the spoke is twisting instead of the nipple turning it begs the question: how accurately was the wheel built?

    I guess the proof is in the pudding, if the wheel is evenly tensioned and straight then I suppose there is no problem, but then, those spokes will want to unwind somehow, how do you know they won’t unwind inside the nipple, i.e. loosening themselves off?

    I always thought it was wheelbuilder 101 to de-stress the spokes frequently during the build to prevent them twisting, I’m only an amateur but I’ve never built a wheel with twisted spokes, round or aero.

    Have you ridden it yet?

    March 21, 2017 at 10:48 am #889399
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    Acm

    When building the wheel, the
    When building the wheel, the shop should’ve used a small slotted tool to hold the spokes straight. It’s not really a problem that the spokes are twisted (round spokes are always twisted like this but you can’t see it), but I’d still take it back to have them sort it on the basis that if I’d paid for them to do it I’d expect it to be done properly!

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