spike420211

my trek800 mtn. bike has been thru a lot in 8 years. Hey, even busted a couple spokes.
Comes w/ the territory... this bike, as well as my K2, sport snow tires this time of year [Nokians]just to get around town[Scranton, PA].

Anywayz, the rear wheel busted a spoke last week. Go it home... 1 mile ride, yeah I prolly shouldn't have, but it's COOOOOOOOOOOLD out.
Take the wheel off, go to pull the QR skewer out.
Out comes half the axle. OMFG.
Coulda replaced the spoke and re-trued it myself [homemade truing stand at home, more rigid than a Park, w/ a dial indicator even.
NO WAY I'm swapping out an axle too.
Off to the bike shop. Instructed shop to swap cog and snow tire onto new wheel, put on cloth rim tape.
Done deal.
I've got new wheel @ home now [63$, ouch]. Noticed unusual thing:
cog side spokes nice and tight, spokes on other side not loose, but kinda flimsy compared to other side.
I'm familiar w/ the concept of offset, but those non-driver-side spokes make me feel sketchy.

any/or:

1>Should I call bike shop, demand mondo tighten and re-true?
[likely an overseas factory wheel, but w/ alloy rim, new QR skewer thrown in.]

2>Should I tighten/true non-driver side spokes myself?

3>Is this just plain common for low end wheels?

PS- yes, in the future I'm considering thru-axle, maybe even 48-spoke.
6'1", 255, on occasion hauling groceries or even trailer
[converted deer cart, scaing down to radio flyer in future, deer cart waaay to heavy]

miyata man

No expert I but this is a hallmark of a cheaply constructed wheel. Something hand built would normally strive to achieve near equal tension through an offset rim or other geekery and skill. It is never a bad idea to retrue a factory wheel set or check for sins of omission in a handbuilt work of art before mounting it on the bike. This appears to be validation for owning a home made truing stand and even better good practice for the multiple instances of maintenance that will be needed on your cheap wheel. You may have reason to gild your spoke wrench by the time your abuse kills this one.

mrrabbit 

1. Go back to LBS.
2. Insist that drive side tension is well above 100kgf - preferably 110 kgf WITH WHEEL PROPERLY DISHED AT SAME TIME.
3. Check rear dropout alignment.
4. Then place wheel back in and ride.

=8-)

Retro Grouch 

You're eventually going to pop left side spokes if you don't get the tension increased on that wheel.

spike420211

oh,ok,sry...

actually 2 of em.
fine adjustment:

moar detail:


coarse adjustment stand, w/ screws instead of dial indicator:


wheel goes on this bike[trek]:

in back is deer cart converted 2 bike trailer. makes a better deer cart, tbh.

meanwhile, riding this one[K2]:


anyways, tightened up non-driving side, flopped wheel over, wheel dish OK [likely wasn't dished proper 2 start with], trued to +/-.018" [it's 4 groceries, not the giro d'Italia], ready 2 go.
Thx the tech advice guyz.

$pike