Missing spoke - can I still ride?

[BintanMan]

Morning all,

I went out for a ride yesterday and broke a spoke at the rim. I took it to my LBS during the ride and got the wheel running true again (to get me home). The shop is closed today but I can take it back either Thursday or Friday to get it fixed properly, but in the mean time is it advisible to ride on it? It's a 32-spoke wheel on a road bike.

I would like to go for a short ride today, say 10-12 miles if possible.

Second part to the question - should I just get the missing spoke replaced or get the whole wheel re-spoked? The guy at the shop said it might be the start of more breakage.

Ta,

Nick

 

[PatrickPending]

<snip> is it advisible to ride on it?

Second part to the question - should I just get the missing spoke replaced or get the whole wheel re-spoked? The guy at the shop said it might be the start of more breakage.

should be ok to ride but may end up going out of true or more spokes going ping - tis your call

depends on quality of spokes - once one goes the rest seem to follow, but they usually break on the rear wheel drive side - though i have had a couple in the past break at the rim - probably worth getting the whole lot replaced with quality stainless steel double butted spokes - depends on how much he'd charge........

 

[HLaB]

I popped a front spoke the other week 55 miles from home :-( The wheel very quickly went out of true but never got worse over the next 54 miles. I only other time I've broke a spoke was on a rear rim, I wasn't as far from home but it seemed to ride OK, I cant even remember adjusting the brake clearance. So I guess its down to the quality of the rim, riding style and what you want to do. With the front rim the guy in the shop has advised to replace it (as there's plenty of life in the rim) but if others start to break, rebuild it with silver spokes (apparently they are stronger than black); but for the cost of a spoke its best to try the replacing first.

 

[mog35]

depends on quality of spokes - once one goes the rest seem to follow, but they usually break on the rear wheel drive side

This was my experience not long ago. The third time I thought 'sod it' and got a new back wheel. I wish I'd just done that in the first place

 

[BintanMan]

I probably need to weigh up the cost of my options. The wheels on my bike are black and so are the spokes. Will I be able to get the wheel respoked in black and still get good spokes at a reasonable price?

I'm really enjoying my cycling but I don't think my wife is going to like it too much if I'm faced with a big bill for either respoking or a new wheel. I'm not averse to investing but I've only been cycling for a couple of months, albeit on a bike I bought 6 years ago and never really used!

Any advice about what question I should ask my LBS owner when I call would be great.

 

[uphillstruggler]

i had a spoke go on the drive side rear a while ago. the spoke cost 45 pence, the LBS wanted to charge 15 quid for 2 minutes work to respoke it so after a bit of haggling we agreed on a price.

ask for a quote before hand.

a week later i needed a back wheel after getting knocked off and that wheel set the guilty party back 45 Quid.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

I am not sure if it is correct that black spokes are always inferior in strength - some stainless steel spokes can be bought with or without the black anodising, such as this.

Spokes generally break not because they or the rim are of poor quality, they usually break because the wheel wasn't built properly, which in turn usually meant the spokes weren't adequately (meaning sufficiently highly) tensioned.

 

[byegad]

Break one and the other 31 all get a bit extra strain, but mainly the two either side of the break, on the same side, so 2 nipples either side of the break.

 

[just jim]

I am not sure if it is correct that black spokes are always inferior in strength - some stainless steel spokes can be bought with or without the black anodising, such as this.

Spokes generally break not because they or the rim are of poor quality, they usually break because the wheel wasn't built properly, which in turn usually meant the spokes weren't adequately (meaning sufficiently highly) tensioned.

Funnily enough RAFN, I was reading this from Harry Rowland's website earlier:

Black Spokes - I no longer stock or offer black spokes for the following reasons.

Black Sapim spokes are sold in even lengths only and I work with 1mm increments e.g. build Record on Mavic Open Pro 32 Hole is 296mm Front and 295mm/293mm rear. I cannot buy 295mm or 293mm.

• The black will fade or wear off over time leading to complaints.
• The Black spokes are no longer in fashion so the demand is low

 

[cycleGeoff]

i had a spoke go on the drive side rear a while ago. the spoke cost 45 pence, the LBS wanted to charge 15 quid for 2 minutes work to respoke it so after a bit of haggling we agreed on a price.

ask for a quote before hand.

a week later i needed a back wheel after getting knocked off and that wheel set the guilty party back 45 Quid.

Defo a good idea to go somewhere llocal for this, probably not halfords. Because haggling is a very important part of any repairs, car, bike, whatever. and it always seems that they want more money from you than the job is worth...

I once went into a shop for a new inner tube, and the shop guy said he would fit it for an extra £15. Really? Any moron can fit an inner tube... gotta keep an eye out, if the salesmen/mechanic thinks you know nothing about bikes, he WILL take advantage!

 

[BintanMan]

I called my LBS yesterday and got a quote for respoking - £50. The guy claims to only use high-quality spokes and there been a (slight) general increase in the cost of spokes? Trouble is he can't do it until next week now, and I wanted to get out on the bike this weekend. I was tempted to just get the single spoke replaced and get the rest done at my leisure next week (and at my risk).

The rim is an AlexRims from a Trek bike circa 2002/3. What's the trade-off in looking at replacing both wheels for better ones? Or maybe just the back wheel?

 

[HLaB]

I'd replace one or two spokes on a Alex rim but I wouldn't spend £50 on one, iirc Planet X are doing a nice set for £99 in their sale. They might be too narrow for your tyres though the last time I got a new rear for my wider tyred hybrid it was circa £50 from a lbs (and I probably would have got it cheaper on line). The old wheel was a Alex DA16 and it snapped a spoke too, I got a shop to replace the single spoke and retrue (£8) a few thousand miles later its rim blew; it might have been connected with the spoke break or more likely the car that drove into the back of me.

 

[BintanMan]

How frustrating is this - the same shop just quoted me £14 for true-up after replacing one spoke, yet £50 for a whole wheel of spokes including the true-up!

I'm finding this rather frustrating just because I broke one spoke!

Does anyone know another decent bike shop in the Herts/Essex area that I could call? Or have any other suggestions?

 

[HLaB]

If you are up for it one spoke would cost 50-75p (unless its a super duper one). I just got a new spoke for the front wheel (65p) inserted it and tightened it no other retrueing was needed and that was a lot more convenient and cheaper :-) For the rear wheel if its drive side you need to remove the cassette first but thats a quick job too.

 

[BintanMan]

Is it a bigger job to true up the wheel if the LBS already trued it to get me home with the spoke missing?

Also how do I measure the spoke length? I just did a quick measure and from centre of the hole in the hub to the rim is 290mm? It is the drive side.

Will I need a spoke tool, or is there likely to be one on my bike multi-tool thing? What will it look like?

Sorry for the simple questions...