Just listened to Geek Warning from 05/29 and was a little surprised by your reaction to the question about the fatigue of a wheel after 40k km. I’ve done just under 35k on my main set of wheels since 09/23 and would not have thought that they are near the end of what to expect from them. (Duke carbon rims, Newman hubs, steel spokes, clinchers with tubes, about 99% pavement ridden)
How much would you generalize expectations for fatigue on wheels? What does everyone else here think?
I think the response was less about them being near the end of their useful life and more about being glad to have had 40,000km of otherwise problem-free riding out of them.
Without the spoke break I’m sure they’d be fine to carry on, but given that the spoke broke the potential for others to start to break now is higher. Additionally, the other spoke nipples - and even the rim and hub flanges - may not cope with the stresses of the change in tensions (from both the break and from replacing the spoke) and truing to rebuild with that one spoke etc. given the fatigue of that lifespan (if you live where I do, which is not far from Dave, the spoke nipples would have all corroded by now anyway!). Then it becomes a toss up between replacing all of the spokes & nipples and hub and/or rim if necessary, Vs replacing the wheel.
