Spoke loosening on dual-sport bikes

[forchetto]

There have been one or two instances of spokes becoming loose on some of our dual-sport bikes in the past. Some of the posts concerned our Qingqi QM200GY-BA (Qlink XF200).

Straight away criticism was heaped upon the quality of the metal in the spokes, tyre rims, etc. As far as I could see these components looked magnificent: Triple-wall alloy rims with huge flanges, flawless anodised finish, stainless spokes of more than adequate thickness for the weight and performance of the bike, etc.

Yesterday I had a few beers with an old and experienced trials and enduro rider and mentioned this to him. He examined the bike, was suitably impressed in general, and could see nothing wrong with the set-up.

I said that I had to re-tighten a few spokes slightly and he assured me that this is common in alloy rims. The nuts and threaded parts of the spokes take quite a long time to bed into the alloy of the rims and would eventually settle down and remain tight. Apparently alloy starts up quite soft and work-hardens with use.

Nothing to worry about, he said. (Mind you he had a few beers by then...) .

[Jim]

Thanks for sharing :)

[nutmeg]

talking about the same bike model XF200, how do I go about spokes alignment?

i was wondering if i need to re-align my spokes since my stock tires 130/70/17 shows chain markings on them...i also found out that 2-3 spokes were loose...would tightening them fix it? or is there a proper way?

can i apply the steps from this site?

http://www.bikecyclingreviews.com/truing_a_wheel.html

thanks

[forchetto]

You could follow the same steps, but if the wheel is way out of alignment it's a job for an experoenced wheel builder.
If just a few spokes are loose the chances are that the alignment is not altered and tightening them will do.

If you have to turn the nuts a lot to achieve tightness then the threaded end of the spoke will protrude past the rim protecting tape and maybe puncture the tube. The tyre will have to come off and the ends of the offending spokes ground flat.