24" Electra wheels spokes keep breaking

[1k9]

I have a few Electra Cruisers, the bikes are sitting either in my house or in my garage, out of the blue I getting broken spokes with the bikes just sitting there. what could be causing this? Ive had the bikes for 6-7 years. To note I live in Hawaii if that matters.

 

[MojoK]

If I'm honest, I'd probably just blame the kids.

I wish I lived in Hawaii.


Edit...are they snapping at the nipple or the j-bend?

 

[1k9]

There snapping toward the nipples about 2-3 in up.
There just sitting there not even being touched. And it happened on 2 bikes.
Can I just buy single spokes, they look to be 9in

 

[Wildcat]

Hawaii here also. A couple spokes snapped on my Dyno while stored under the stairwell, I thought it was someone cutting them, but the bike shop explained it was age of the wheels even though I saw no rust. Up close they showed me the corrosion where the spoke broke. The wheel was 20 years old though.

 

[horsefarmer]

Maybe the salt water mist in the air?

 

[1k9]

Hawaii here also. A couple spokes snapped on my Dyno while stored under the stairwell, I thought it was someone cutting them, but the bike shop explained it was age of the wheels even though I saw no rust. Up close they showed me the corrosion where the spoke broke. The wheel was 20 years old though.

Did you replace the spokes? Where did you buy them?

 

[MojoK]

There snapping toward the nipples about 2-3 in up.
There just sitting there not even being touched. And it happened on 2 bikes.
Can I just buy single spokes, they look to be 9in

Spoke lengths and gauge are precise so you'll want to bring a sample to match up to. Spokes might even be different on the rear for the drive side and non drive side. If the rest of the spokes could be compromised the way the broken ones have been, the integrity on the whole wheel build is pretty questionable. If it's mine, I bring the wheels to a pro for a hands-on inspection/ rebuild.

Also... just stabbing in the dark... lots of bad things can happen to a bicycle hung on a car rack if it's right at the exhaust pipe. Typically it will damage a tire or maybe a disc brake caliper. I don't know if it could weaken the spokes.

 

[Wildcat]

Did you replace the spokes? Where did you buy them?

The wheel was 20+ years old, and more of the spokes had corrosion, so I replaced it with a pretty good wheel from Bikefactory in Waipio. 50 bucks but it's on my Hawthorne now. There's no other bike shop unless I wanted to drive all the way downtown Honolulu.