Hi,

I’ve been running an Alfine 8sp hub on my Pompino for about a year now for commuting duties and while I find the hub to be pretty trouble free I seem to be breaking spokes on the wheels far too often for my liking.

The first wheel lasted about 6 months before I broke a spoke and after a few more went & I got a new wheel built it just popped its first spoke today after only 3 months.

My commute is only about 6miles each way, I weigh about 13 stone (I could lose a few lbs I’ll admit) and while I do occasionally fill my panniers up quite full I thought that the wheels would last a little longer than this.

So am I being unreasonable? Is this normal or do I need to find a decent wheel builder with more experience building hub gear wheels?

My experience with normal singlespeed rear wheels is that they last much longer – could the extra weight of the hub be a contributing factor?

Anyway if anyone can recommend a decent wheel builder in London or shed any light on this then I’d be very grateful.

At the moment I am preparing for a cycle tour this summer through the Baltic states and while I really want to take my hub gear with me I am now seriously considering leaving it behind and going singlespeed.

Thanks in advance.

What rim and spokes are you using? 32H or 36H hub/rim?

Who built the wheel for you? It does sound odd I’ll admit, as at 13 stone you’re hardly a lard ass and though you weigh it up with weight in your panniers, you’re commuting on it not hucking it off big drops, and you’re only riding 12 miles a day on it, hardly far!

Alfine hubs, due to their size, require shorter spokes. This means that the wheel will inherently be stiffer, but a shorter spoke will be very slightly less fatigue resistant (we are talking miniscule amounts). The size of the hub also causes quite sharp spoke angles too, which may also possibly put a very small amount more stress on the setup. These are all normally only of any issue on a 26″ wheel though, and you’re using a 700c.

Personally, I reckon you just got a wheel made with cheap spokes. Whatever rim you use, get some double butted spokes in there (plain gauge are heavier and stiffer but less fatigue resistant), something like DT comps or Sapim Race. Another option that is quite expensive but will also help, if your current hub is 32H, sell it and buy a 36H version. The extra spoke count will help with its fatigue resistance.

And get a good wheel builder!

as above, good builder and good spokes are important. I’d make sure the your rim is doublewall and stiff too. I’ve got a 32hole 7 speed nexus hub which I built onto one of these (DT comp, 3 cross) about a year ago. I’ve got a bit of weight on you and often carry a 10+ kilo pannier but the wheel has been perfect, I’e had to tweak it about 2 or 3 times since and is still going strong (3400 miles in)

Alfines have big spoke holes in the flange. Because of this, when “regular” sized spokes are used, they vibrate and move about in the hole causing them to fatigue and snap on the bend. I think you can get small washers that take out the slack or use thicker spokes. Snapping regularly on tour, no probs now rebuilt with heavier guage.

Def the spokes or build. If you snap more just get a rebuild.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sorry I forgot to mention that the hub is a 32h and the rims have been an Alexa something and more recently a Mavic Open Pro. Not sure about the spokes are on either occasion (yes I know), but the first wheel was from a set sold by Cotic and the second was built by my LBS, who have over the years built me some excellent wheels. The fact that the cheaper wheel from Cotic lasted significantly longer than the one from my LBS does seem to suggest they didn’t build it very well though.

Also contrary to what some people have suggested tends to happen, both spokes snapped at the end where the rim is rather than where they go through the hub.

So can anyone recommend a good wheel builder in London or do I need to start calling other bike shops?

Sounds like a shit wheel build to me.

My alfine is laced to an open pro too (32H) and has lasted me 4 years now of commuting on my pompino (15miles each way with a savage climb).

I’m 16-16.5 stone dripping wet and regularly jump the speed ramps at work and tow 2 kids in a trailer all over the show.

Wheel doesn’t creak, spokes don’t twang – everything is as good as the day it was fitted – pretty sure the guy used alpina plain guage spokes too – which I have never heard of and are cheap, oh and black which back in the day was accused of making spokes weaker.

I never (touch wood) break spokes on my mountain bike, but used to always break spokes commuting. Don’t underestimate the hammering commuter bike wheels get.

I’ve also got a problem with the spokes on my Alfine (8-speed) hub breaking.
After the 5th one broke in 12 months I asked the bike shop to build me a wheel to take my mass (16st) and ridding style (brute force). They built me a 700cc wheel with 32 3-cross spokes on a Mavic A119 rim. 2 weeks later and I’ve just broken another spoke!

They all seem to snap at the elbow as the spoke goes into the hub, and all on the chain side.

Other things to note: I have a 45t chainset with 18t sprocket and happily exceed 30mph multiple times on a 20 mile a day commute. I run disc brakes and use them hard enough that you can hear the rain sizzle on them.

interesting…
Ive had the same problem, broken 2 spokes both at the nipple.
Im running an alfine 8 laced to a DT 7.1 with DT comps (2.0/1.8/2.0)
I built them myself (using a tensiometer) 2 years ago and have lots of experience in wheel building (15 years in the trade) Ive never had this problem over hundreds of wheel builds.
conventional wisdom says that a bad build causes spoke to break at the elbow, breaking at the nipple is weird and is usually caused by crap spokes (often cut rather than rolled threads)
Ive never had this happen with DT spokes before… so I can only assume its something to do with the hub.
It could be to do with the angle the spoke enters the nipple (shorter spokes on a non offset rim)
im puzzled…