Broken spoke

[a-frame81]

So during the National Capital Ride today, I managed to break a spoke coming down Mt Majura.

As it's an old 36-spoke wheel would I be better served just replacing one spoke and using it, or am I looking at re-lacing the entire wheel? Would I be better off just buying a new rear wheel, or is that overkill for one broken spoke?

[find_bruce]

One spoke I would simply replace & check the tension on the wheel. Put a drop of nail polish or some other tag on the new spoke though - one thing that can happen is that whatever the cause of the broken spoke may have affected others & you find yourself replacing lots of spokes.

How far it is worth it depends on whether you are doing it yourself or paying an LBS - bank on about $30 per spoke.

If you are doing it yourself (& it is easy enough to do), keep going until you have replaced 6 or so. At which point it is re-lace or replace.

Having an LBS re-lace your wheel is rarely an economic option.

Its also a good time to check the rim for wear & the condition of the hub

[a-frame81]

Thanks for that, I had the wheels trued about 6 months ago before a big event and they've held out ok so far so I'll just do the one spoke. I do most other repairs on the bike, but I find wheels & spokes a bit intimidating. The rims are in pretty good order so I'll go down the path of repair at this stage but will keep an eye out for more breakages in the next few months.

[foo on patrol]

If there are no flat spots on the rims, truing them is not, normally that hard. Tension the replacement one up a bit and back the opposing ones off, a little bit and resume tensioning till you get things right.

Foo