My Stumpjumper, (1700 bloody pounds worth!), has got the wobbliest rear wheel I’ve seen in a long time. Because I have disc brakes, I was unaware of it until my mate told me who was following behind. (One drawback with disc brakes).
Now my old Stumpy, which I used to go down the side of hills etc. for years and had a very hard life, stood up to the punishment. This new expensive contraption has only ever been on the road and up and down a few curbs with one trip over my local hillside. The damn thing’s only a few months old!
On inspection, it isn’t the spoke which has broken but the aluminium alloy nipple. I have since found out that they are a bit crap and I‘m now having the wheel rebuilt changing all the nipples for brass, (I think they’re brass), which are better and stronger. (Maybe a fraction heavier, but so what.)
The guy in the shop told me they are also less inclined to seize on the spoke or round-off with the spoke key.
In this lighter than light obsession I think they have go too far. I really haven’t given this bike a hard time so for this to happen is, IMO, quite unacceptable if not dangerous. What would have happend if I had gone down the hills like I used to, I can only imagine
So my advice: if you have these aluminium nipples on your bike you may want to consider changing them. The guy in the shop is doing it for £15, so not too expensive to change. I could have taken it back to where I bought the bike from, under guarantee, but they would be obliged to fix it back to the same spec - and there’s no way I want that again.
Anyone else had this or heard of it?