Dead wheel
When I got my Van Nicholas it came with a set of Easton Circuit wheels. Â No matter what you see below please first understand that I have ridden my bike most days, covering between 120 to 200 miles a week and have ridden the bike for four years before this happened. Â Other than this final death throw these wheels have remained true and have been fairly maintenance free.
I got into work after my normal commute, pushed my bike into entrance knew something wasn’t quite right. Â My immediate thought was a buckled wheel, and on first inspection it looked a little like I had broken yet another spoke, though it has been a little while since I broke the last one.
On inspection though it was a little worse than that.
Yes I was lucky, but this was rather predictable. Â When I looked at it in detail I have been riding some pretty shoddy roads for a few years on wheels with 20 spokes both front and rear. Â I had already replaced the front wheel as I had worn the rim down so the wear marker had gone. Â This was expected considering I mainly using my front brakes. Â What I didn’t consider was the concentrated loading the rims where getting with reduced spokes. Â So when I looked at the rest of the wheel it was in a pretty poor condition with most of the other eyelets.
Has anyone else experienced this or is it just me? Â In view of this please always check your rims on a regular basis; especially if you prone to buying wheels that are minimalistic where spokes are concerned.