Broken spoke help required.

dmr180

Hello everyone,

whilst out on a ride today i had the misfortune of hitting a rather large pothole whilst doing approx 20mph. At the time there appeared no damage but 10 miles down the road a large pinging noise signalled a broken spoke and a slightly out of true wheel.
I managed to cable tie the snapped spoke to the adjacent one and make my way the 30 miles home.

The problem i face is that upon calling a few shops nobody appears to stock spokes for my EASTON EA50 AERO wheels. The one place i did find said that they stock rear spokes but only for non drive side.

I have attached some pics in the hope somebody out there may know a supplier of spares or even know of a brand of spoke that will fit so i can get my pride and joy back on the road.

Many Thanks

majormantra

Those look like standard J bend spokes. If they are, then a wheelbuilder or well stocked local shop should have something the right length. It won't match, but that doesn't matter.

ugo.santalucia

As above, any J spoke of the right length will do... it is just a matter of which nipples your rims take.

Easton? Do they use Pillar spokes (The P stands for the make: Pillar)? Never seen that before

Where do you live?

dmr180

i live in Warwickshire, would it be possible to use the nipple still in the rim?

majormantra

Should be, as long as it isn't damaged.

ugo.santalucia

Standard nipples have virtually no value, no point in recycling them... I doubt a shop would charge you extra for a nipple. Internal nipples (hidden inside the rims) are somewhat rare and hard to find, those are best recycled.
If your has a fancy colour and you want to keep it, as above, if it's not damaged, no reason not to

dmr180

Just been reading the easton website and it says it can be difficult to replace rear drive side spokes due to the tension required. Apparently the non drive side have to be completely detensioned before the drive side can be replaced. I am just thinking this may be a job for somewhere specialising in wheel builds as i am not too sure what lbs will be able to do with eastons. Others have stated on here that the wheel can flex due to spokes not having the correct tension and also that these rims are prone to spoke breakages, i hope that is not the case. I purchased these second hand approx 4 months ago and until now they have been fine.

ugo.santalucia

dmr180 wrote:

Just been reading the easton website and it says it can be difficult to replace rear drive side spokes due to the tension required. Apparently the non drive side have to be completely detensioned before the drive side can be replaced. I am just thinking this may be a job for somewhere specialising in wheel builds as i am not too sure what lbs will be able to do with eastons. Others have stated on here that the wheel can flex due to spokes not having the correct tension and also that these rims are prone to spoke breakages, i hope that is not the case. I purchased these second hand approx 4 months ago and until now they have been fine.

If it is only one spoke, no such worries...
However, yes, spokes break due to fatigue and it might well be that your spokes are getting to the end of their service... as well as it might not... hard to say

dmr180

Many thanks for all of your help in this, it is much appreciated. I have managed to contact Easton's uk distributor (zyro). Hopefully they can source a replacement spoke. If not Evans cycles in Birmingham say they are confident they can replace the spoke and true the wheel. Fingers crossed!!!

Once again, thank you

ugo.santalucia

dmr180 wrote:

Many thanks for all of your help in this, it is much appreciated. I have managed to contact Easton's uk distributor (zyro). Hopefully they can source a replacement spoke. If not Evans cycles in Birmingham say they are confident they can replace the spoke and true the wheel. Fingers crossed!!!

Once again, thank you

Honestly, it is not as epic as it sounds... it is a fairly straightforward job

vorsprung

Recently I was doing mechanics duties on the 1400km London-Edinburgh-London. I was on the border, near Carisle
Summary of fun I had here http://audaxing.wordpress.com/2013/08/0 ... gh-london/

Why I mention it is that I had to fix many many broken spokes. I only had 4 different sized spokes with me but they fit all the wheels that came in ( except for a recumbent with 650B wheels )

To fix a rear drive side spoke

You will need:some gardening gloves, a screwdriver, some blue tac, a spoke key and some oil

1) go to a proper bike shop, not Halfords and ask for a spoke that will fit, not necessarily an aero one. They should have some in stock. Get a nipple too.

2) take the cassette off so you can get access to the drive side stuff

3) remove the rim tape where the broken spoke was attached

4) dip the threaded end of the spoke in some oil. Any oil will do

5) if the wheel rattles, congratulations! There is part of the old nipple inside the wheel somewhere. To remove it you have to rattle the wheel until the piece falls out of the empty hole you are looking at

6) look at the existing pattern of spokes, particularly the direction (left or right) that the spoke to be replaced comes from, and how the spokes are laced (under and over)

7) thread the spoke through in the correct way until the threaded end is near the hole in the rim

8) stick the nipple head to the end of a narrow screwdriver and carefully insert it into the hole. Hold the nipple from the outside and remove the blue tack. Then insert the screwdriver into the head of the nipple

9) wiggle the spoke about until it fits in the end of the nipple. Use the screwdriver to tighten it. It may take a few goes to make it bite. If the spoke doesn't seem quite long enough pull hard, this may straight it slightly and give a little more length

10) tighten up the nipple as far as the screwdriver will go

11) use a spoke key to tighten the nipple up further. Remember, it's clockwise to tighten. Pluck adjacent spokes like a harp. When the new spoke has a similar tone, put the wheel in the upside down bike

12) rotate the wheel. If you are extraordinarily lucky then it will just work. The brakes are your "wheel trueness gauge" Most probably the new spoke will need adjusting

13) to adjust spoke - if it is too tight then the wheel will be pulled out on the drive side. Loosen by half a turn anti clockwise ( or less) and try again. If it is pulling the other way then the spoke is too loose, tighten clockwise by a quarter turn. After each turn squeeze all the spokes in pairs with gloves on all the way around the wheel as hard as you can.

There is a chance that your wheel was out of true to start with. In this case just aim to get it straight enough to fit in between the brakes