Radial lacing for my s-works hardtail front wheel

[mezzanine]

Hi,

Is it normal for radial lacing to cause a loose spoke quite often? I had new old stock, a lovely 1997 NOS xtr M950 32h front hub plus x517 black rim and had a local bike shop build it with radial relatively strong DT comp spokes but with red alloy nipples (not as strong I know but I'm a lightweight enough at 160).

This was a year ago that they were built. The spokes lost tension in about 3-5 spokes after a month or two and so I got them to re-do it. Then summer 2018 I had to get it trued again due to some loose spokes again. Now Jan 2019 with the bike sat in the cold in the garage I went to oil the parts that might be affected since it's last oil and after pumping the front tube noticed the spokes where all tensioned fine on my front wheel apart from one which is spagety loose. It's just the one spoke but unsettlingly loose.

I remember my wheel guy saying it was funny/hard chasing the tension round the wheel when truing this particular wheel and you always dread the "ping" noise and you have to start again! Can anyone relate to my story, it's not a big deal really but never had this issue on such a garage queen before compared to other bikes that I actually use! This is my only radial wheel so thinking it's just something you have to deal with if trying to be retro/aesthetics.

Any help much appreciated, is it very common they need tightening every couple of months?

 

[mattr]

Need a better wheel builder.

I ran a 28 spoke radial on and off for 5 or 6 years (had three sets of wheels) and other than wearing out one rim had no issues with loose spokes or buckling.

IIRC it was a hope lightweight hub and 517 rim with some fairly light spokes.

 

[mezzanine]

I'm actually wrong mine is 2x cross other rather than radial. I asked for radial but they decided to go against it and I didn't know until I collected. Yes I think the builder isn't the best sadly, hard to know. They didn't charge the earth (£67 including the spokes).

So if I find someone better can they recover it or if a wheel has been built badly is there a chance it may require a complete rebuild due to being built badly from the start? I ask because the second time in late summer 2018 I actually took it to different shop that is further away from me as I had lost trust in the local and they've managed to do a bad job too!

Oh well, I miss the days of being in Glasgow and using Wheelcraft, best wheel builder. I may have to plan the 7 hour drive as they provided such good wheels compared to what I've seen in the London area bike shops...(I know there are some good ones lurking out there down south). I think I've just been unlucky, perhaps getting these jobs done now instead of peak summer will be better for the next person I use.

 

[mattr]

2x is what i default to on all my own front wheel builds, even with disc. So no reason you should have an issue.

Should be recoverable, as it *sounds* like whoever built it has used too low tension (that's usually why spokes keep coming loose) so nothing should have been damaged. (Too high tension and you can kill the rims.)

Might be worth starting another thread (or changing the title of this one) and asking for a recommendation local to you. There are a few wheel builders on here, and if you are in London i know of (by reputation) half a dozen good-to-excellent builders dotted around. (Though some have a massive waiting list, and others might not be so happy to pick up someone else's bodged build.)

And i've said it before, lots of high quality wheel assemblers about, they can do a 3x 32 spoke wheel in no time at all. Ask them to work on anything less standard than that, you're fooked. And they can't be bothered to spend, or charge for, the extra time to get it right.

Actual wheel builders are in short supply.