Slight bent on spoke ? Serious or not ?

blackstick

Hey there , how are you ?

Noticed 1 slightly bent spoke on ma front wheel .
I'am not sure when it happened , do I need to replace it the whole thing or can it be straighten ?
Heard that even a slight bent will make the whole wheel go bad .
True ?

Thanks .

ugo.santalucia

You need to replace it and the wheel probably needs to be retensioned... as in a well tensioned wheel, spokes don't bend. being the front wheel the urgency is 7/10 rather than 10/10

blackstick

ugo.santalucia wrote:

You need to replace it and the wheel probably needs to be retensioned... as in a well tensioned wheel, spokes don't bend. being the front wheel the urgency is 7/10 rather than 10/10

Hi there , thanks .
I went to a bike shop just now .
They told me that I don't need to do anything on it . :x

Also the wheels had been serviced not long ago and its still running smoothly .
I will go to another bike shop and check it again .

John.T

I kinked a spoke in a crash some years ago, about 2" from the nipple. I just left it and when I fitted a new rim some 2 years later I forgot to deal with it. It finally broke at the nipple after 4 years and about 10000 miles. I would not worry unduly.

rubbernekker

Depends- Alu or Steel- prob steel from what the bike shop said. if wheel is straight forget it- unless it's the kind of thing that keeps you awake at night- or is that just me?

ugo.santalucia

blackstick wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

You need to replace it and the wheel probably needs to be retensioned... as in a well tensioned wheel, spokes don't bend. being the front wheel the urgency is 7/10 rather than 10/10

Hi there , thanks .
I went to a bike shop just now .
They told me that I don't need to do anything on it . :x

Also the wheels had been serviced not long ago and its still running smoothly .
I will go to another bike shop and check it again .

Clearly they can't be bothered... it takes 5 minutes to change a spoke and give you peace of mind

rolf_f

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Clearly they can't be bothered... it takes 5 minutes to change a spoke and give you peace of mind

Surely the need to change the spoke is dependant on more variables than just the kink in the spoke itself. For example, is the wheel traditionally laced with more than 30 spokes or a lightweight with low spoke count. Another issue is the weight of the ride - I often hear on here about people braking spokes - I never do.

I can't say I'd have any probs with my piece of mind if I kinked one of the 36 spokes on my Spa Cycles handbuilt touring wheels! I'd just ease it straight again and check the trueness.

ugo.santalucia

Rolf F wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Clearly they can't be bothered... it takes 5 minutes to change a spoke and give you peace of mind

Surely the need to change the spoke is dependant on more variables than just the kink in the spoke itself. For example, is the wheel traditionally laced with more than 30 spokes or a lightweight with low spoke count. Another issue is the weight of the ride - I often hear on here about people braking spokes - I never do.

I can't say I'd have any probs with my piece of mind if I kinked one of the 36 spokes on my Spa Cycles handbuilt touring wheels! I'd just ease it straight again and check the trueness.

As I said, it's a 5 minutes job that I normally do for free. A single spoke costs as little as 20 pence.

blackstick

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Clearly they can't be bothered... it takes 5 minutes to change a spoke and give you peace of mind

Surely the need to change the spoke is dependant on more variables than just the kink in the spoke itself. For example, is the wheel traditionally laced with more than 30 spokes or a lightweight with low spoke count. Another issue is the weight of the ride - I often hear on here about people braking spokes - I never do.

I can't say I'd have any probs with my piece of mind if I kinked one of the 36 spokes on my Spa Cycles handbuilt touring wheels! I'd just ease it straight again and check the trueness.

As I said, it's a 5 minutes job that I normally do for free. A single spoke costs as little as 20 pence.

Sorry I've not ever broken my spokes before even on my mountain bike where I tortured every inch of it .
So they cost just 20 pence ?
Then I might just change them then ....
Mine is a alloy 6060 T6 , so steel ?

ugo.santalucia

blackstick wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Clearly they can't be bothered... it takes 5 minutes to change a spoke and give you peace of mind

Surely the need to change the spoke is dependant on more variables than just the kink in the spoke itself. For example, is the wheel traditionally laced with more than 30 spokes or a lightweight with low spoke count. Another issue is the weight of the ride - I often hear on here about people braking spokes - I never do.

I can't say I'd have any probs with my piece of mind if I kinked one of the 36 spokes on my Spa Cycles handbuilt touring wheels! I'd just ease it straight again and check the trueness.

As I said, it's a 5 minutes job that I normally do for free. A single spoke costs as little as 20 pence.

Sorry I've not ever broken my spokes before even on my mountain bike where I tortured every inch of it .
So they cost just 20 pence ?
Then I might just change them then ....
Mine is a alloy 6060 T6 , so steel ?

If you have traditional steel round spokes, measure the spoke from the nipple contact to the point where it starts bending in a J, add about 8 mm and that's roughly the size you need. If you can't find a spare let me know and I'll send you one.
If you have any form of flat bladed spokes, things might get more complicated and expensive... in that case maybe follow others advice and leave it

rolf_f

ugo.santalucia wrote:

If you have any form of flat bladed spokes, things might get more complicated and expensive... in that case maybe follow others advice and leave it

I just don't get your logic at all!

I know a traditional spoke replacement is cheap (you told me it is!) but basically (for 'peace of mind' in your own words) you advocate replacing the spoke if it is cheap and therefore, more likely to be on a traditionally spoked wheel which is probably heavily over-engineered anyway but not on a wheel with bladed spokes which is likely to have a much lower spoke count and where the condition of each individual spoke is more likely to be significant! And I'd guess (emphasis on guess) that a kinked round spoke would retain more of its strength than a kinked bladed spoke.

ugo.santalucia

Rolf F wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

If you have any form of flat bladed spokes, things might get more complicated and expensive... in that case maybe follow others advice and leave it

I just don't get your logic at all!

I know a traditional spoke replacement is cheap (you told me it is!) but basically (for 'peace of mind' in your own words) you advocate replacing the spoke if it is cheap and therefore, more likely to be on a traditionally spoked wheel which is probably heavily over-engineered anyway but not on a wheel with bladed spokes which is likely to have a much lower spoke count and where the condition of each individual spoke is more likely to be significant! And I'd guess (emphasis on guess) that a kinked round spoke would retain more of its strength than a kinked bladed spoke.

It's a game of guessing as we don't even know what wheels we're talking about... I am assuming that a bent spoke on a 16 spoked wheel will have an effect, as it doesn't it's probably a 24 + spoked wheel... but again, it's all guessing.
Bladed spokes cost a damn fortune, even the basic 2.3 mm ones. I guess it's the forging process to take an extruded round steel wire and flatten it into a string in the middle