Broken Spoke

jonbob78

Hi,

Rode the 17 miles into work for the first time in over a year today, however one of the spokes on the back wheel gave in and snapped at 16 miles.

Question is - is it safe to ride home? Only other option is there is a Halfrauds just up the road - do I drop the wheel off this morning to fit a new spoke? Failing that - the missus may get a call

daveski12

Halfords fitted a new spoke into a wheel for me a couple of weeks ago.

I'd rather do that than ride home on it.

Headhuunter

You can ride a bike with a broken spoke in an emergency but it's not wise to ride very far as the wheel will get further and further out of true.

Low spoke count/high tension wheels are the worst, as there are fewer spokes, when 1 goes, the wheel tends to go badly out of true and can be unrideable. Having said that I finished the last 3rd or a 150km sportive with a broken spoke on my low spoke count RS80 wheels a couple of months ago, it went just after the last feed stop so I limped back and some kind man adjusted the spoke tension so I could at least ride to the end...

A broken spoke on a higer spoke count wheel is less terminal but it's wise to get it fixed as soon as poss

Bobbinogs

Yeah, bit of a 'it depends' answer. If you are riding something like a 28+ spoke then the deflection shouldn't be too bad but you will probably need to open your brake release (and try to avoid braking on the affected wheel as the rim will cause a large amount of brake judder). Make sure your broken spoke is safe. If you don't have time to remove it completely then zip tie it up, ideally with a couple of ties and double check everything. Take it easy (avoid 40mph descents) and then sort things our properly when you can.

Nice to see an RS80 making it home after a spoke break, I have some and worried that the low spoke count would make it unrideable in that kind of event.

Headhuunter

Yeah the RS80 was fine... The guy told me to take it easy in case the entire wheel collapsed in on itself or something but it felt absolutely fine...

simon_masterson

As said, depends on the wheel. In any case, be careful. If it's a 32+ spoke wheel, I'd assume that you could probably get away with it, but I'm a complete novice; assume not that my opinion is accurate.

A couple of weeks ago I turned a corner and found myself on the concrete. My rear axle had snapped clean in two. I didn't realise this at the time (I also had a broken spoke, and a couple of bent ones), and rode the rest of the way into work (less than a mile). On the way home (when I was much calmer!) I thought it was just very out of true from the spokes, so attempted the ride. I soon came to my senses, though I daresay I would have made it home.