When I got my Van Nicholas it came with a set of Easton Circuit wheels.  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.  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.  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.  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.  I had already replaced the front wheel as I had worn the rim down so the wear marker had gone.  This was expected considering I mainly using my front brakes.  What I didn’t consider was the concentrated loading the rims where getting with reduced spokes.  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?  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.