Are you suffering from broken spoke nipples?
This is more common than you think. If you’ve broken one, the rest will eventually follow. Here’s some more info.
It’s called galvanic corrosion. It’s a chemical reaction between an electrolyte (salt water or tyre sealant for example) and the aluminium nipples. This corrosion causes the nipples to seize to the spokes and disintegrate, making wheel truing, when necessary, impossible.
If your wheels have alloy nipples and are older than 3 years, it’s probably a good time to replace the nipples with brass ones, which don’t corrode.
If you’re going to do this preventative maintenance, prepare to replace your spokes as well as it may be impossible to remove your existing nipples from your spokes – like on the pic above.
