Broken spoke/ nipple

Cqc

Hi all,
Sorry to bother you on the weekend, but I have broken a spoke at the nipple on a ride today. As it isn't the spoke that's broken, but instead the nipple, do I have to buy a new spoke, or can I just buy a new nipple, and attach it to the spoke? They're j bend spokes, with an ERD of 545mm, and an ETRTO of 559x17 if that helps. Also I know what the ERD means but what does the ETRTO mean? Many thanks and will my LBS stock nipples? Many thanks

Cqc

Also, if I have the same length nipples, but designed for a different wheel ( mine are dt Swiss wheels, but the are other wheels of friends in the garage, so if they have spares of the same length nipples, but for a ztr crest rim (for example) will it work?

miceden

Are you sure the spoke isn't broken, none of it is in the part of the nipple that's snapped? Normally I'd replace nipple and spoke but you could get away with just the nipple, but if ere isn't just a little bit of the spoke broken replace both. There are different kinds & makes of nipples but they are not rim specific, so long as same length any will do.

alex_uk

I would replace the spoke as well, as a matter of course.

If it's the front wheel (and you don't have disc brakes) then this is easy. For the rear (and in the case of disc brake rotors) you're going to have to take bits off to get to the spokes. The tooling is pretty cheap, if you're interested in doing this sort of stuff.

You'll also need to tension the replacement spoke (this applies even you only replace the nipple). You'll get away with just visually truing the rim against the brake blocks if it's just one spoke and no other trauma occurred when the nipple went.

Cqc

Looks like the spoke is intact, so I'll look to see whether I can raid a nipple from an old bike, and I'll roughly true it by ear (plucking them) and by eye- thanks for the help

nicklouse

Just get a nipple of the same length and fit it.

Cqc

Thanks