Oh no my spoke just broke!

[dand_uk]

Just broke a rear spoke on the commute home, dunno how! I heard wierd noise coming from somewhere then when I checked just now I noticed a spoke had broke! I blame Southampton potholes lol.

Never replaced a spoke before so might be a LBS jobbie.

Was riding for two miles with a broken spoke - is that bad?? I commute with a full pannier bag on a rack on my Trek 2.1, rear wheel has 24 spokes...

 

[Moodyman]

So long as you're careful over bumps, you should be able to complete your journey with a broken spoke. I've done it many a time. Get the spoke replaced as soon as you can though as you risk damaging the wheel beyond repair if you continue riding.

If you carry panniers, I'd ideally be looking at 32 spokes or above on the rear. I suffered broken spokes all the time on my commuter bikes, then got both my rear wheels handbuilt. No problems since (touch wood).

 

[ColinJ]

It depends how many spokes you have in the first place!

You might get away with 1 spoke out of 32 or 36 breaking, but when I broke a spoke on my rear Aksium (a 24 spoke wheel) it went so far out of true that I had to stop and remove my Crud Roadracer mudguard, release the rear brake cable and take one of the brake blocks out to enable the wheel to turn properly!