Pro Connect, worth the cash?

[tillson]

You talk of never having a catastrophic failure.
Spoke broke on my 24 spoke wheel last monday.... I was cycling on a flat cycle path at about 15mph.

Wheel buckled and jammed into the brakes. My bike stopped dead and I cam off. Fortunately I was on a cycle path and not the road.

I have just received my new 36 spoke wheel from 50cycles.... but the hub seems defective.,. only gears 1-4 work. Still tinkering with that one.

This is just the sort of incident that worries me. On my commute, there are some downhill sections where the speed can reach 30 mph + and it is frightening to think what could happen if the wheel collapsed as described above.

If the chances of the same thing happening on a 36 spoke wheel are the same, well then you have to weigh up the risks of travelling at those speeds and it is the individuals decision to expose themselves to the risk. But if the probability of a failure is higher on a 24 spoke wheel, you are then being exposed to an enhanced risk of injury due to an oversight by the manufacturer and this is unacceptable.

The accounts of wheel failure on the Pro Connect all seem to be related to the 24 spoke wheel. As someone mentioned earlier, should the bike be subjected to some kind of recall?

Of course if there is no greater risk when riding on the 24 spoke version, non of the above applies. But they have changed the design on newer models for a reason and I wonder what that reason is

 

[JamesC]

Of course if there is no greater risk when riding on the 24 spoke version, non of the above applies. But they have changed the design on newer models for a reason and I wonder what that reason is

I don't know the answers, but a spoke failure being "catastrophic" must depend on whether the wheel can remain functional if any one of the 24 spokes break.

The impact of one spoke breaking on a 36 wheel is relatively minor, putting the rim mildly out of shape, but still able to pass through the brake blocks with some rubbing. Typically, the rider can slow to a halt and investigate the problem.

Spoke tensions are higher on a 24 spoke wheel, and the spoke pattern is different on the right side amd left side of the wheel - 12 crossed spokes on the drive side and 12 radial spokes on the non-drive side.

Tests must have been done by Shimano to assess the shape and safety of the wheel when any one of these spokes happens to break.

An ebike application may alter the risk of a broken spoke, but I would think that the wheel design is more significant to the knockon effect of a broken spoke.

I would hope that 50Cycles & Derby Cycles are looking very closely at the percentage of failures already reported just from the few ProConnect owners on this forum.

James

 

[dazzie]

What annoys me is that swinnerton was made to pay £100 for a new back wheel when there is quite clearly a major issue with the 24 spoke wheel (definitely worthy of a full recall imho). They bought two ProConnects too! P*ss take.

 

[tillson]

I think what is needed here is a statement from 50 Cycles. A statement saying that those of us with the 24 spoke wheels are not exposed to any greater risk of suffering a wheel failure than those people who have the revised 36 spoke design would be appropriate.

If that staement can't be given then I think that it would be reasonable to expect the rear wheel to be replaced with the revised design at no cost to the customer.

I think that 50 Cycles read this forum, so I would hope that they will comment on this thread in due course. However now that they have their own forum, this may not be the case. If nothing appears in a day or two, I'll post something on thier forum.