How to repair this spoke?

History of the wheel

1) Ordered 3 months ago from ebikes.ca.
2) Wheel trued by an ultra-experienced and highly recommended wheel truer about a month ago.
3) I was riding at about 27 mph, I hit a very slight bump(Like a slight crack in the road, but nothing more) and then I heard a loud *clack* and rolled off to the side to see what happened, and the above sight is what I was greeted with. What do I about this? It looks like the... err... flange(?) actually busted off and I've heard rumors you just can't readily "modify" finished aluminum products.

I know I've heard that spokes breaking is a common problem with these Cystalyte wheels... but it looks like the flange broke, not the spoke. The spoke just bent inward as it contracted from the high tension.

Find someone who is very talented with TIG welding aluminum (very talented!!).

Completely weld over and fill in the the entire area.
use angle air grinder and sanding pads to reshape the weld to match the rest of the flange.
re-drill the hole in the same location it was and the same size it was.
install new spoke.

It was probably a defect in the casting. Welding should only be attempted by someone who really know their stuff. On a direct drive (Crystalyte) motor, the heat from welding would be likely to damage the magnets.

If it was mine, and not covered by warranty, I'd just drill a new hole about 2-3 hole diameters away from the original one and adjust the spoke so the rim is true. It would look ugly perhaps, but I don't see why the hub holes need to be perfectly spaced as long as the rim is true and the spokes are evenly tensioned.

Someone here had a similar issue. They made a splint of some sort across the gap, IIRC.

EDit: here:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4162&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=hub+spoke+weld&start=30

I like what TD said:

They made a splint of some sort across the gap

Click to expand...

In other words, drill two holes in the flange and attach a small (alluminum?) plate, then drill a new hole in the plate at the correct place. But I really responded here because I noticed all the spokes are threaded the same way, making the cross bend more pronounced. I saw this discussed some place else, and thought the reason was poor, i.e. to increase the tension on the spokes (so they can break the flange?). I would relace the wheel with alternate spokes laced from the opposite side on the flange. Just my $.02.

Tig welding the failure point, and redrilling is really your only good option. Good luck to you, the failure is caused by a bad casting job or poor metal.

All is not lost.

You can convert that broken motor to a Stokemonkey 8)

*

J