stinkyfarts

Every Trek mountain bike I have ever had always seems to bust the rear hub out along with rear spokes busting out.

Ive been through several rear wheels and hubs but nothing has ever seemed to last more than a month or two of riding.
At first I was always doing tricks and realized the rear wheel and hub could not handle that. Since I have only ridden on hard concrete flat smooth bike trails with the occasional wheelies.
Still busting hubs and spokes.

I had a friend tell me that while riding behind me that the frame of the bike was twisting and contorting under hard pedaling. I suppose that could cause hubs and spokes to constantly break.

At first I thought I just got a bad Trek from RBM but after the second Trek having the same issues I've finally just given up.

I know there are 800 dollar wheels and 3000 dollar wheels but that just does not seem like a option.


Anyone have any advise or tips.

Or even if you just want to tell me to go troll somewhere else thats also helpful.

base2 

For starters, hand built wheels will almost always be superior to machine built wheels.

For 2, a single broken spoke is no big deal. A second broken spoke in a short time, you should just suck it up & get the wheel relaced. By hand. By a real builder that has a good reputation.

If you are hard on wheels, there is no shame getting a 32, 36, 40 spoked wheels.

Freehubs don't bend axles like freewheels do. You want a freehub.

Double butted will allow for some "stretch" distributing the load over more than just the 4 spokes that happen to be at the top at any given time.

A proper double wall rim is superior to a cheap single wall rim.

Larger tires at lower pressures absorb much more impact. Wide tires at high pressures are much more stressful to the rim than any other combination.

All wheel builders offer some version of a 30, 60, 90 day or 100 or 500 mile free tune & true guarentee. Use it.

Expect a decent wheel to cost $$$$ Like $70+ for spokes, $100 for labor, $90 for a strong aluminum rim like Velocity Atlas, Chukker, Deep V, etc...plus whatever your hub costs.

Other advice:
You can "float" above your seat during landing or rough sections or impact reducing structural shock loads to your wheel. A suspension seat post can also be useful in that regard. Some gorillas ride like fairies, some fairies ride like gorillas. Ride light, save a wheels life.

Olefeller77 

Not an expert by any sense of the word, but I have never had your problem. I have an older trek 3500 and a trek Marlin 6 29r I got new a few years ago. Both have not given me ANY problems.
Since you are having repeated problems- especially frame flexing- What is your weight? Are your bikes bought used without a shop checking them?

Koyote

base2 pretty much summed up all of the useful advice.

79pmooney

You don't want to spend money, but you are finding equipment built for the expected use of most people doesn't work for you. I am not going to tell you to just throw money at the problem. Seriously consider going to knowledgeable wheel builders and bike mechanics and tell them "This is what I love to do. What equipment will allow me to do that?" You may well stump them. And if they really love the game, they just might lie in bed wondering how to get bikes to work for you and out of the blue, give you a call and say "I've got an idea".

I cannot give you specific advice. I'm a light road rider who was always easy on wheels. Never had great strength. Never did stunts of any kind. But I do love taking on challenges with bikes. I've ridden fix gears for most of my life. They are my first love. The problem with a half century of fix gear riding is that I've gotten older. (I'm still working on how to beat that problem, but so far - empty handed.) My body is no longer willing to go up the hills on fix gears in the old ratios (and is just as unwilling to go down those same hills in a lower ratio!) What to do? Well, I guess I need fix gears where I can change the gear ratios on the road. Flip-flop hubs have been out there for more than a century, but that only gets me two ratios. Any two of uphill, downhill and flat. Not enough now that I am in my 60s.

First run at a solution was a custom fix gear that allowed me to use any cog made without needing to mess with chain length. Flip-flop hub. And I made a custom chainwhip that weighs a mere pound that I can unscrew cogs with on the road. (This bike was not cheap but fully custom ti bikes never are.) Second go was setting up my old road bike as a three speed fix gear that could handle big tires. I did this by using a flip-flop hub, having two cogs brazed together on one side and making up a triple crankset. Designed so each cog lines up exactly with its chainring so 1) chainlines are perfect and 2) the cogs and chainrings are chosen so the hub barely moves in the short road dropout. There were all kinds of design challenges. Crankset had to be as far inboard as possible to line up with a narrow track hub. Hub and wheel were re-dished to give the different chainlines. Custom chainring bolts were made by a framebuilder with machining skills and equipment. I bought the cogs for the double and he cut out the center of one, made a spacer and brazed it all together. I ended up paying him for roughly a cheap custom steel frame.

But these bikes are lifetimers that allow me to do the riding that soothes my soul. I don't regret a cent. Now, had I these challenges 40 years ago I would have had to take a much cheaper approach, But there would have been a way, I didn't look for that solution because I didn't have to.

I'm saying this because, if this style of riding lights your fire, find an answer! It's out there. There are plenty of good minds in the bike world. (Remember, a bunch of young men figured out how to make bikes that could ride down the extremely rough Mt Tamalpais in the '70s at insane speeds. The start of mountain biking.) Oh, and as I write, I just thought of a place for ideas and inspiration - BMX bikes. They do what you do and their bikes work.

And finally, an observation on modern derailleur bikes and the riding you do - highly dished rear hubs are - very simply - bad for what you are doing. Highly dished spoked wheels are such a poor concept that they are used nowhere except for bicycle rear wheels for those obsessed with lots of rear cogs.

Ben

alcjphil

Which Trek mountain bikes have you owned? Trek's low end models are nowhere near as durable as some of their better bikes

stinkyfarts

Apparently I am not aloud to post photos of the current wheels until I have 10 Post.

Lovely

And how does anyone benefit from that?

Hehehehehe

stinkyfarts

The Wheels on the bike are aftermarket Mavic made in France. 559X19 S-6000 X 139 A controlar regularmente.

The hubs are Shimano Deore FH-M510 VIA-M

phughes

We all benefit from that, since spammers can't simply join and post all sorts of links. Relax, post a few more times, then post the pictures you need to post.

shelbyfv

Yep, got to expect that with massive quads and cranking it to 500 watts. Welcome back!

phughes