pamaguahiker 

Before the weather warms up here in Pennsylvania. I am looking to fine tune some areas of my long distance ride. One concern i have is what to use for emergency spoke repairs. In my years of cycling. i have suffered very few broken spokes, one being on a 20 spoked road rim, where you lose one and the wheel is horribly off and not even ridable. My others have been on heavy duty rims and it usually only requires maybe loosening of the brake a bit to ride onward to the next stop for repair. BUT, i want to be prepared and have myself set up so i can repair immediately if needed. So base on years of experience on this list, what recommendations do you guys have for repairs?

Should i have spare spokes, tape them on the stays, or just as easily slide them into my packs. Do you guys carry a freewheel removal tool, just in case. I have also seen the FiberFix kit. Has anyone used this? I can see using this for my road bikes if needed but for a touring on long distance rider. Would it just be as easy to take the right precaution from the start with a proper length spoke and fw tool?

Any advice is appreciated. thanks in advance,

Walter

Tourist in MSN

I carry a couple spare spokes. On my LHT there is a rack that holds two spares. On my other touring bike I carry some in the seatpost, they are held in with a wine cork. (The wine cork dried out, I wrapped some tape around it to keep it tight fitting although it had not slid out yet.)

I also carry the cassette removal tool, two flats were filed down on it so I can fit a smaller wrench than I would have otherwise have needed.

Here I described a substitute for a chain whip:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...hip-for-Travel
But, some just use a nylon strap or something like that as a chain whip substitute.

Even if you did not carry the tools to replace a spoke, not all bike shops carry all spoke sizes, thus you might want to carry the spare spokes at a minimum.

I have never used one of the Kevlar substitutes for a spoke. Since I built up my wheels, I had spare spokes of the correct length, thus I never had a reason to try the alternative.

There are other cassette removal tools out that that can damage a frame if you are not careful. If you get one of them, you may want to make sure that your cassette can be removed without too much torque on the tool before you leave for your trip.

imi

I carry spare spokes in seatpost, ziptied together. The long (uncut) end of the zip tie curls around keeping them in place. My "cracker" is a "Next Best Thing NBT2". Oh, and a "fiberfix" emergency spoke for quick roadside repair. Park Tools spoke tool.

That said I haven't broken a spoke for donkey's years since using handbuilt quality wheels.

Broken spoke in the middle of nowhere can be a bit of a showstopper...

Steve0000

I carry spare spokes taped to my downtube or pannier rack. I also carry the tools to remove the cassette and have needed to use them on a few occasions. All the spokes I have broken have been on the driveside of the rear wheel.

Ditto about carrying spare spokes of the right length even if you don't carry the removal tools. Past experience has been that bike shops don't always carry the right spokes or quality spokes.

raybo

I was touring in England in 2012 and spending the night at couchsurfing host. When I got my bike ready to ride the next morning, I discovered a broken spoke. No problem, I had spare spokes and proceeded to fix it while my hosts and their neighbors looked on. It took maybe 10 minutes to do the work and get the wheel back to some measure of true.

My hosts and their neighbors were very impressed. Luckily, it wasn't on the drive side of the rear wheel or it would have taken much longer and been much harder. Even though I carry a tool for removing the rear gear cluster, I've never had to use it on tour.

fietsbob

I bring a couple spare spokes , I had 6, 2 for the front, in a front pannier,
2 for the right drive side in the Rt R bag,. 2 for the left on the L R bag..

Used Phil Freewheel hub, so I brought the freewheel remover and borrowed big adjustable spanners when needed.
only needed one rear DS spoke..

staehpj1

I carry real spokes and a Unior Cassette Cracker (less than an ounce).

BTW, I find that if I measure I can pick one size spoke that will suffice for all three places (front, drive side rear, non drive side rear).

bktourer1

Check this out. I have one and its easy to use in an emergency:
https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fiberfix.asp

pamaguahiker 

Wow.

Great ideas regarding storing the spokes. In fact, i loved the seattube idea, then i read the other one with the spokes in the front pack, drive side and non-drive side. All are excellent ideas. my thought all along was to tape them to the stays but i like the idea of them being neatly tucked away! So a big thank you for the ideas. My general question was easily answered in, carry regular spokes for the touring or long distance rides, just in case you do break down in TimBukTu, which by the way is currently a mess of french and militants, so i will steer clear.

Thanks for the PeterWhiteCycles link. i actually looked on youtube to see if they have a video of someone using one but couldn't find one.

This year was my first year that i really set out with a bike designed for long distance rides and comfortable touring, and even now i am considering going the extra step and building up a VeloOrange Campeur but I am looking forward to some more long distance riding oppurtunities this year. I will be checking back here frequently for other ideas. And also lightweight item ideas overall in this category. thanks,

Walter

robow

Or you can go this route

https://www.jimlangley.net/wrench/espoketool.html

BigBlueToe

I carry a Stein cassette tool.

I had to use it twice - not for broken spokes, but because I had installed my cassette without adequate torque on the lockring and it came loose. The first time I reinstalled it without enough torque again (I guess I was being careful.) The second time I reefed it and it hasn't loosened since. The Stein tool worked great.

I carry two rear drive-side spokes and one left-side. I also carry fiberfix emergency spokes. On one of my first big tours (with a mail-order bike) I had a lot of problems with broken spokes. I had emergency spokes only. Each time a spoke would break I'd install an emergency spoke, true the wheel as best I could, and wobble on until I got to the next town with a bike shop. Then I'd unload my bike and wait around until someone could help me. I spent a lot of money and, worse, wasted a lot of time, with mixed results.

Before my next tour I went to my local mechanic, told him my story, and asked him to build me a bulletproof rear wheel, no matter what it cost. The wheel he built made it through several tours with no trouble.

When I replaced my mail-order bike with my LHT I decided to learn to build wheels myself. I bought a truing stand, a spoke tension meter, and did some research. The wheels I built have made it through several tours with nary a broken spoke.

Encouraged, I also built my own wheels when I assembled a 29er for a tour on the Great Divide. They took a lot of abuse on that ride but survived.

Message: In addition to being prepared for broken spokes, good wheel construction could prevent them in the first place.

I prefer to carry my spare spokes on the left chainstay. I'd rather not have to remove the seatpost to access them. On bikes without attachments I use zipties.

pamaguahiker 

I have to agree on the properly built wheels also. I can honestly say that on every wheelset that my father built up for me. NEVER a problem. And in truth. i have had good luck with mine as well. But i mostly built lightweight ones that don't get the heavy long, long distance mileage. Thanks for the input.

Tandem Tom

Great thread! Now I have a question. How do you handle the rim tape after a on road spoke replacement?

rifraf

I keep my spare spokes in my handle bars in three individual bags of each size (3). I believe I have 3 of each size spoke.
My front wheel has a Sondelux dynamo hub with the same size spokes each side of the hub. My rear is a Sram dualdrive with 2 different size spokes. I got the wheels hand built by wheelbuilder.com using CX-Ray spokes and having toured from one side of Australia to the other I've never broken a spoke. In fact I've never even had to retension a spoke.
I believe the common theme here is "handbuilt"

staehpj1

I don't remove the rim tape when doing a spoke replacement and don't see why you would need to. Just use the same nipple and you can leave the tire on and not even need to remove the wheel.

pamaguahiker 

This is what i have done in the past as well! I had a mid 90s Bianchi Trofeo. Unbelievably great value bike at the time but with the ambrosia rims and economy miche hubs, infamous for spoke breakage. I would break spokes quite often during my first year. I took a winter project upon myself to replace the ones that were not broken throughout my initial miles and if i remember correctly. i replaced 20 out of 36 so i had 16 breaks in the first 5k miles. haha. Quite a few. I still have the same hub, same rim, and same bike now and i haven't replaced a spoke since...dare i say the 90s? I do constantly check, and recheck and retension as needed but once again. Back to the above. handbuilt.

In a pinch. i can think of many an item on a bicycle or in packs to use for rim tape. If anyone else is like me. i always carry a small amount of duct tape and i have actually used a piece to seal a leak once when i found my glue dried out.

seeker333

You don't need to buy and carry any of the tools mentioned previously in this thread if you simply buy a Fiberfix spoke repair kit. It is the lightest, simplest, least bulky and least costly option, and it won't damage your frame like some (or most) of these "cracker" tools. I've used my Fiberfix once as a test - it works and will last until you can visit a LBS for a proper repair.

OP, there's no need to remove rim tape to replace a spoke, unless you're using Al nipples and one cracks in two and gets trapped inside the rim. Brass nips won't break in this manner.

staehpj1

1. A plus of the fiber fix is that it is a one size fits all thing so it can be used to help anyone even if they have different length spokes. Of course once you give it to someone else you no longer have it.
2. A minus is that it is a replacement for just one spoke unless you buy and carry several. If you break three or four spokes you may be out of luck. That does happen sometimes either because the first break isn't noticed or because some road debris is kicked up into the wheel. Neither is all that far fetched, I have seen both happen.
3. Another minus of the fiber fix is that you still have to fix it later with a real spoke.

My preference is for a cassette cracker and a few real spokes, but you can make a reasonable case for either approach. My main reason is that I'd rather fix it right from the get go and be done with it. I don't find it takes me any longer to install a real spoke.

MichaelW

I had the chain of my 9x3 speed drop into the spokes after hitting a bump, it gouged out quite a few of the spokes. Ive had that before with 13/14 gague spokes but these were narrower 14/15 g and the damage was a lot worse.
Over the next few weeks I had about 5 spokes break so I got pretty handy with the NBT2.

You need the cassette lockring to be about 7 clicks tight. Workshop torque is much higher and the NBT2 will never work with that.
NBT2 works best with vertical dropouts. With horizontal dropouts, there is no firm place for the tool to engage so it slides about. Keep a close eye on your skewer, you can easily bend it.
If you ever see a Pamir Hypercracker, buy one.

Why doesn't anyone make the Hypercracker anymore. Who has the patent and the tooling? Anyone up for raising it from the dead?

fietsbob

Shown in #11 from Stein is its apparent heir equivilent..

Zip-ties around big cog to spokes takes care of the chain whip need,

sounds like you need to do a patent search.
run it up the 'kickstarter' flagpole and see if the interest is there.

Western Flyer 

I only carry a Fiberfix and used it once with a broken spoke and broken axle. It work very well. I no longer carry replacement ss spokes.

I also carry a Stein cassette tool. There are several situations where it is needed besides replacing broken spokes.

LeeG

+1. My take is that broken spokes happen to wheels stressed beyond their intended use. It's worth carrying wheel repair tools but much better to have a wheel built properly for the intended load and road.

Carbonfiberboy 

2 X Fiberfix. On our tandem, 400 lb. touring weight, 36H wheels, I've never even had to true a wheel, much less broke a spoke, even riding kilometers of cobblestones. Never broken a spoke in decades of riding. Secret is very simple: well-built wheels, 14-15 spokes, good rims. The rim is really the deal. Your usual flat touring rim is the worst choice. Deep section rim the best choice. It's all about rim stiffness.

After all, the yield strength of a single 15g spoke is around 400 lbs. Looking it up, the worst vertical acceleration measured on a bicycle ridden down a rumble strip was about 2g. So really, there's very little stress on a spoke even in low spoke count wheels, unless the rim section chosen is quite flat. Even then, there's not much stress compared to spoke strength. Spoke fatigue, which causes spoke breakage, originates with undertensioned wheels, wheels with uneven spoke tension, or wheels built with too heavy a spoke, any of which allows the spokes to detension with rotation. Another source of spoke breakage is cheap rims which are drilled vertically, rather than in line with the approximate spoke path in a built wheel.

So go touring on good rims, don't worry about your spokes so much.

staehpj1

Or the Unior Cassette Cracker which is smaller, cheaper, and works fine in my experience. The downside is that it might be that it is a bit more likely to mar the paint on the edge of the dropout. Given the location it contacts that doesn't worry me in the least, but it might be a show stopper for some. I have used it on one of my bikes several times and to tell the truth I never noticed whether it marred the paint or not.

MichaelW

The Stein, Union and NBT2 cassette tools all suffer from the same flaw, lack of levering arm. This limits the tightness of the cassette locknut and poses problems for many horizontal dropouts, as I found with NBT2