Fulcrum racing 7 kinked spoke

tomhammersley

Hello all

I have a pair of fulcrum 7s. I have discovered a slightly kinked spoke on the rear drive side. I think it happened when hitting a pot hole.

I'm assuming this is dangerous and likely to fail and so I plan on swapping out the spoke asap. As far as I can tell it's just a standard 277mm black plain gauge spoke. Can I just replace it with a generic spoke or do I need the specific fulcrum spoke? Is there anything particular about them? I assume not at their price point.

Cheers.

keef66

If the wheel is still true and the spoke isn't rattling cos it's loose, I'd leave it as it is.

tomhammersley

The wheel is pretty true, just a slight lateral wobble that needs ten minutes with the spoke key.

Just out of interest why would you prefer to leave it as is? I've got a bit of a phobia about equipment failures after a couple last year...

keef66

I generally don't replace things if they are still working. I've got enough broken stuff to be fixing. (You know anything about the power supply in a Panasonic VCR?)
I've lived with wheels with kinked spokes for years without problems, most notably on the front wheel of a rigid forked MTB which took more of a battering than anything on the road. As long as it's properly tensioned, and it hasn't done any damage at the rim or the hub, it wouldn't worry me.

If, however, you want to replace it for peace of mind or for purely aesthetic reasons, I'm sure someone will be along shortly to point you in the right direction. Presumably you'll need to take off the cassette if it's the drive side.

racingcondor

I don't think there's anything special about Fulcrum spokes until you get to the 3's.

Should be a standard steel J bend spoke. I'm with you Tom, I'd replace if only so you can get a closer look at the wheel and see if there are any other signs of damage.