Hey everyone, I’m in Florida and we recently had a pretty unusual freeze. After that, I noticed something weird: multiple spokes snapped on one of my bikes—and then I checked another bike and found the same issue happening there too.
At first I thought it was just normal wear or maybe one bad wheel, but seeing it happen on two bikes at the same time made me wonder if the cold had something to do with it.
Details:
• Both bikes were stored in a garage
• Multiple spokes snapped (9 on the one pictured)
• Failures seem fairly clean rather than bent/damaged from impact
• This happened right after the coldest temperatures we’ve had in a while
I’ve never seen this before, especially in Florida. Has anyone experienced spoke failures after a freeze?
Could temperature swings cause enough contraction/stress in the spokes or rim to cause failures like this? Or is it more likely that the cold just exposed existing fatigue?
Would love to hear if anyone’s seen something similar or understands the mechanics behind it.
(Pictures attached)
by GuitardedGrasshead
19 Comments
I suspect there was too much spoke tension. I don’t see this issue in the Midwest and I ride year around
I’m guessing bad quality spokes, as this isn’t normal at all? But how cold are we talking about? Below 0C?
I’m from Siberia. I’ve ridden multiple times at temperatures below -30C, and my bikes are stored in unheated space.
I have never had this issue.
>Cold snap
>Florida
Yeah, that’s not the issue
If your guess was right, there would be ample evidence from colder areas than Florida all over the world.
This seems like a coincidence, or…something. Thermal expansion is not much. Like 0.07% over a 100°F change. So half that for your cold snap is still generous. So a 300 mm spoke changes by 0.1 mm. They’ve got about 2 threads per mm, so that’s like a quarter turn of all your spokes, which isn’t nothing, but kind of is. Spokes are always under tension , so they are just going from a lot of tension, to ever so slightly more tension. Plus these are breaking in the middle? Spokes usually break at the bends. I live in Michigan, and we go from almost 100°F to almost 0°F every year. Probably not that full range in the garage, but nearly that range every year, and I never see this. Something weird, and I don’t have a good explanation, but something seems suspicious here, and I don’t think it’s the temperature swing.
Ridden gravel below zero on low spoke count wheels and never had this happen. Makes you wonder what your spoke tension is. You true your own wheels?
Do you store your bike near pool chemicals? Maybe cleaned out your pool for the first time recently and mixed the stuff near your bike? If so you might have stress corrosion cracking caused by chlorine bearing chemicals
Is the break distorted at all like it was cut? The broken ends will tell a story
If a temp drop snapped your spokes, they were WAY too tight to begin with. My bikes experience a 100 degree variance throughout the year and ihave never had a spoke break.
Highly unusual place for a spoke to fail. They look cut.
I keep at least 6 bikes in the garage in Michigan. The last few weeks have had multiple days where the low was in the 20s (and snowing), and the afternoon was in the 60s. Never had spokes snap.
Get yourself a cheap tension gauge for spokes. It’ll help prevent this and great for wheel truing
I’ve had alloy nipples and hub flanges shear from thermal cycling, but not spokes. This said, all my wheels have been made with DT Swiss, Wheelsmith, or Sapim spokes…and spokes almost always are the strongest component in the wheel. Alloy nipple failures, rim cracking, or hub flange failures are more common than spoke fail. This said, if they’re inexpensive, not especially good spokes, thermal cycling could be the culprit.
I go from indoor 68*F to outdoor 0*F many times per year. Haven’t lost any spokes lately.
How far are you from saltwater?
No, they’re not snapping like that on their own; and when then do break under tension it’s usually at the hub. Somebody is fucking with you my friend.
My bikes are outside all winter in NH. This isn’t real.
Hot would break them before cold. Coefficient of thermal expansion is higher on the aluminum of the rim than the stainless spokes.
ETA spokes RARELY break in the middle. I suspect foul play, chemical reaction, or poor quality spokes.
It got down below 20*F by me many days this year. I didn’t have any issues with my bike nor wheels.
It’s extremely uncommon for spokes to break in the middle. Usually only if there was a deep scratch acting as a stress concentration. Vandalism is much more likely.
Can you show us a super close up of the ends? (if you have a macro lens/camera) I’m pretty sure they won’t look like a fatigue crack failure and more like bolt cutter marks.