I was 10 miles in on a 50 mile ride I was planing, when I heard a crack and felt the front wheel wobble. How often do hubs crack like this? Luckily I was able to slowly ride back home and it gave completely out on my street
by LANDSHARKE28
I was 10 miles in on a 50 mile ride I was planing, when I heard a crack and felt the front wheel wobble. How often do hubs crack like this? Luckily I was able to slowly ride back home and it gave completely out on my street
by LANDSHARKE28
19 Comments
That’s a pretty rare failure outside of a significant impact, spokes are much more likely to fail before the hub flange.
After about 40 years.
I wouldn’t say often, but it’s definitely not strange.
Edit: oh sorry, I misread, I thought you meant the spokes. Never seen that break like that before but I’m continuously surprised by broken parts! Time for a new wheel/hub.
that hub is rusted and tired.
this generally won’t happen if you keep your bike clean and dry.
Looks as if straight spoking? Concentrated stresses directly on the hub. It just gave in. There is serious fracturing all over it.
old age, low flange, radially laced, & quick release. bad recipe.
The chances go up 10 fold when it’s radially laced. Looks cool but eventually the hub flange will pop like that.
Might be that radial lacing, where you have the spoke heads inward.
I have never done it this way, as i would think it puts way more stress on the hub.
Would be interested to hear opinion of someone who has more expertise in wheel building about this, as its something i have pondered sometimes while building radial wheels.
As I would think this is the normal way of doing radial lacing:
https://preview.redd.it/mvj4qtssgv0g1.png?width=882&format=png&auto=webp&s=ef9156271fea0b7345bf4ef33163d0e1f7b1a76d
Mostly only once because now its buggered
Well,
radial spoke lacing pattern on hubs that weren’t designed to deal with this kind of stress, on an old not too well maintained bike…
What kind of surface did you ride on?
Not often, but it happens especially due to fatigue and age. Radial lacing is fine 99% of the time, but spokes should be laced heads-out to provide support for the flange by the hub body. Heads-in lacing effectively pulls the flange away from the centerline of the hub.
New hub day. Or get a replacement front wheel, if they’ve failed they could have been waaaaay too tight
I had this happen on a 1-year-old wheel; it happens
You finally get your wheel upgrade justified
Well when the metal is left out to the elements and rusts that breaks down the metal which is why it failed. Those hubs done look well maintained at all.
Radial lacing should only be used on hubs specific designed for it. I have no idea if that hub is.
It looks.old and corroded though.
It’s very rare. You don’t need a special hub to avoid it happening
Radial spoke lacing does make this more likely, as does the rust.
This almost never happens, and why people say not to radially lace anything more than 28 holes. In your case it’s:
* Radial lacing
* 36 hole
* Low flange
* Decades old
If any of these factors were different, it probably would have lasted longer.
I used to have a hybrid bike 30 years ago that broke spokes left and right. The next bike I got I only ever broke one (and I still have it, almost 20 years later).
My excuse was that I was “too powerful”