Shimano WH-R560

Beached

Hi all.
Did anyone out there ever purchase a pair of these. I got a pair at the start of the year for roughly 120 euro from chain reaction. Everything was going fine for the first 1000K until i snapped two spokes last week. Not a bother, or so I thought. My local bike shop did not deal in Shimano spokes, They tried a quick fix with ordinary spokes. No good. Even their supplier in Dublin does not supply these spokes..
So now i spent the last week looking for shimano spokes for my rear wheel. Shimano spokes are different from regular spokes as they have no elbow's. Thats why a quick fix is imossible. I cannot order direct from shimano, my best chance seems to be through Brompton cycles or Ultimate persuits in the UK. Thing is if i order, say, 4 left and 4 right spokes, plus nipples the bill comes to nearly 40 pounds with postage. Thats the same price as the original Wheel in the first place.
SO what im asking is if anyone knows of anywhere in Ireland that deals in shimano spares where i could pick up these spokes, or should I just throw the wheel away and get a set of Mavic Aksium wheels or something like that. And how do people rate shimano wheels anyway???
Im cycling for the last 4 years and this is the first problem that i had with spokes

dave2pvd

I've had these wheels before. They came on the off-the-peg bike I bought at the time.

After multiple spoke replacement costs, I started to get very frustrated with them. I got to a point where I decided that next spoke that breaks, that was it. They were gone. I ended up throwing them in the bin.

They have gotten a lot of flak (search roadbikereview and bikeforums) over the last couple of years for being less-than reasonably strong.

I traded up to Mavic Ksyrium SLs. They have been just bomb-proof for 2 years now. Never had to be tensioned/trued. No broken spokes. Survived hard pinch-punctures.

albob

If you do decide to buy new wheels, keep the spokes. You can then nflog them to guys like me when I break mine (new bike so not tested yet...oh and its the R550 set I have. Dont knwo if they have the same spokes or not)

Chips Lovell

Beached wrote: »

SO what im asking is if anyone knows of anywhere in Ireland that deals in shimano spares where i could pick up these spokes, or should I just throw the wheel away and get a set of Mavic Aksium wheels or something like that. And how do people rate shimano wheels anyway???
Im cycling for the last 4 years and this is the first problem that i had with spokes

Ring around a few bike shops before binning it. Cyclelogical might be your best bet, but they might tell you to shag off since you didn't buy the wheels off them in the first place (this is going by experience). If that doesn't work, I guess you'd have to forget about it. If you want to save money, just buy a new rear wheel rather than a set.

studiorat

el tonto wrote: »

Ring around a few bike shops before binning it. Cyclelogical might be your best bet, but they might tell you to shag off since you didn't buy the wheels off them in the first place (this is going by experience). If that doesn't work, I guess you'd have to forget about it. If you want to save money, just buy a new rear wheel rather than a set.

Apparently the lads can't work on a bike that hasn't been bought by from them for insurance purposes. Such a nice lookin workshop too!!

Morgan

studiorat wrote: »

Apparently the lads can't work on a bike that hasn't been bought by from them for insurance purposes.

They must have a unique and bizarre insurance policy then. It's amazing how other shops manage it.

penexpers

Shimano spokes are notoriously hard to get

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=342616

Chips Lovell

Morgan wrote: »

They must have a unique and bizarre insurance policy then. It's amazing how other shops manage it.

Yep and amazing how they can seemingly manage it themselves when the mood takes them.

Beached

After a few days of thinking about it, ill take a chance on ordering just 4 of the 300 cm spokes. These are the original failing ones. Ill see how long i last without getting into more trouble. They seem to be a very good wheel otherwise, im back cycling with the original wheels i got with the bike (Alexrims DA22), my god, the noise they make:rolleyes:

Beached

As a follow up to this thread if anyone else has problems with these,
I eventually ordered the spokes from www.petracycles.co.uk. Definitly the easiest website to navigate and find shimano spares.
The official Shimano europe site lists Ultimate Pursuit's in the UK as its only official dealer. you cannot order online from UP but following the link brings you to the Cycleways website. As in Cycleways.com in Parnell St, Dublin. And from the website, they seem to have most shimano spares in stock. Phone orders only though it seems http://www.ultimatepursuits.co.uk/page.asp?w=43&ref=12&affiliate=226&sidstep=5. Not much good to someone in the southwest of the country though. But handy to know otherwise.
I also found a Mountain bikeing shop in Galway that said they repaired shimano wheels, cannot remember the name of it, was just passing by on a weekend up there

kona

madison are the shimano suppliers to the bike shops in ireland.

is it the back wheel that has broken spokes??? there are 2 different sizes.

on the shimano thing, all parts from shimano have been a bollix to get for the past few years, thats why alot of bike companies are running sram drivetrains now:)

IMO sram is nowhere near as strong as shimano, but in terms of function they work just as good

Beached

It was two left hand side spokes on the rear wheel. 300 mm's. No problem finding info on the spokes. The official Shimano website is pretty excellent with documentation on all its products. The right hand spokes are 276 mm