Schwinn Meridian Right rear wheel spokes began braking today.

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slickdude

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Wheel is shot. I have now become aware that this is a major problem with this model trike. The solution of course is to replace the wheel, maybe re-spoke it with stronger spokes. From what others are saying, the wheel cannot handle speeds better than about 10mph and what happened today proves this. Cheap junk I guess. So here is my next question. Does anyone make a trike replacement wheel besides schwinn's junk that can handle the speeds and fit my trike or am I hosed at this point? A shame if it cannot be made to work out.

Thanks for any help fellow members.
 
Aren't the spokes and rim standard? I have heard of people getting rims off of a donor mountain bike. Likewise, people are using 10 and 12 gauge spokes. I am only passing along what I have read, not gospel.
 
Well I had reverted the old trike and donated it to a mentally handicapped kid a while back after putting a new wheel on it, thought it was the right thing to do and the kid had no bicycle, which case he was delighted.

In a sense I am considering another go at this project from scratch. Not sure on rear wheel because the right driver side fits a "D" shaped axel end to drive the wheel. I know there is another backend kit conversion at other websites and that axel is 5/8"...if I only knew what the Meridian axel diameter was, it might be possible to buy that other kit for the driver axel. There are stronger wheels that have 12gauge spokes and those should last longer.

I had since found out that the stock schwinn meridian spokes on the right wheel break all the time, just cheap junk. But the other axel has a rear driver wheel that is much much strong and unlikely to break at all. With the new Toshiba SCIB battery packs on the horizon a new etrike might be a great way to go, add the solid airless new tarus tires and that would be great.
 
Guys, it’s not my goal to be pedantic or condescending, but I do hope to challenge an idea or two about bicycle wheels.

14 gauge spokes are strong! They are more than strong enough to work in just about all our applications. You just have to use care to prevent breakage.

Thicker spokes don’t resist breakage because they are stronger, they resist breakage because they tend to bend less at the j bend. A strong wheel can be built with 14g spokes but they must be properly tensioned at all times. I suggest blue locktite on the nipples, something a bicycle builder would never suggest. Good even tension at all times and your spokes should be quite durable. Allow your 12g or 11g spokes to get loose and they will fail, too!

Extra trick: with your spoke nipples solidly in place with locktite, I strongly suggest you wrap each crossing spoke intersection with thin copper wire and apply some solder to solidly lock the pair together. This effectively enlarged the spoke flange and minimizes movement at the j bend.
 
About the solder does it also stick to the spokes or just the wire? .......Curt
 
Be sure and use flux. Once the hot solder begins to flow over and through the copper wiring, it will seize up on the wire and the two spokes. I have some 18 gauge copper and it works fine.

The only problem I ever had with this method was when one spoke backed out at the nipple. No matter how I tried, I could not screw the nipple back into the spoke. With a little riding around like that, the loose spoke’s companion spoke broke at the j bend. I replaced the two spokes, soldered the new pair together and I’ve been rolling for months now.
 
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