I finally counted how many spokes I actually break in a year

I keep a little logbook in my shop for warranty claims and repair notes. Last week I got curious and added up all the spoke replacements I did in 2023. Turns out I replaced 47 spokes total, and 32 of them were on the rear drive side of cheap mountain bikes. That number surprised me because I always figured front wheels took more abuse from potholes and curbs. Has anyone else kept track of their most common repair patterns like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

olivia_chen351mo ago

My buddy runs a bike co-op and he started tracking this too after he noticed a pile of rear wheels from like six different cheap MTBs all had snapped spokes on the drive side. He said it got so bad that he just started keeping a box of extra spokes specifically for those 12 gauge garbage wheels because they break if you look at them wrong. The funniest part was when he realized the front wheels almost never came in with broken spokes unless someone hit a curb at full speed or did something dumb. He also noticed that the cheap hubs have terrible dish and the spokes on the drive side are basically carrying all the weight of a grown adult plus the drivetrain forces, so they just give up faster.

jessicamiller1mo ago

Wait is this really that big of a deal though? I mean 47 broken spokes in a whole year sounds like a lot until you think about how many bikes roll through a shop. My buddy works at a big shop too and he said most of the time people just ride on busted spokes for months before they even notice. The whole drive side thing is mostly just because those cheap wheels are built like crap from the factory not because the physics of riding is that extreme. Feels like tracking this stuff is overkill unless you're trying to win a contest for most broken parts.