Tips for riding with broken spokes
 

Hey guys, last month a spoke went out and the wheel instantly got a bit out of true. I took it to a few shops, but none of them were able to fix it the same day and I need the bike to get to work. I put off the repair and rode like 500 miles on it, the problem didn't seem to get worse, but this afternoon the bike was making a weird sound and I found another broken spoke. I remember when I was younger and 50 pounds lighter, I had a wheel hold up for a long time with multiple broken spokes, I eventually got it replaced when it had like 4 or 5 missing spokes.

I hope to make this wheel last atleast until the weekend, so it needs to go like 50 or 60 more miles before I can repair it.

If that’s a question for us where is the question mark?

Don’t you have another bike?

Can't you just buy a couple spokes and put them in?

If you have a broken spoke the wheel is compromised. You're taking a risk riding it. Be careful.

No spokes in the dumpster?

You rode 500 miles on a wheel-ful of overstressed and probably badly-tensioned spokes, and if only one more broke you are lucky. If you had bought a couple spokes (repairs and spares) and fixed the wheel, you wouldn't have two broken spokes.

As for your earlier experiences .... how many spokes? How strong a rim? How hard did you ride it? Without knowing every detail your prior experience is meaningless.

What is slightly less meaningless is that you ignored a broken spoke for so long .... and seem shocked that all the parts on the bike are important to the bike's overall function---particularly when riding shirtless at 35 mph with the fast guys .....

So .... why not go to the dumpsters and get a bunch of junk bikes and build a couple of back-up frankenbikes just to tide you over .... or just collect whichever wheel you need from junk bikes until you get a couple good ones.

When I absolutely needed a bike every day, I usually had two or three ready and a few more nearly ready .... just from pulling stuff out of junk heaps and collecting discarded bikes left out for the trash collector. Can't miss much work because the bike broke ... bosses tend not to care why you weren't there, and tend not to want to you back.

Whatever. It is hard to tell what to take seriously on BF, so my default is "nothing."

I really need to learn how to wrench on my own bikes better, dont know how to change a spoke. im bad at learning from youtube

edit: ok changing a spoke looks easy but I guess my worry is trueing the wheel, never had any luck doing that.

Take the old spoke to get it matched up. A lot of shops have spoke machines to cut and rethread spokes. Put it in the wheel, you might have to take the cassette off, and tighten it with a spoke wrench, (they come on different sizes). Truing the wheel takes practice, but if it was close before the spoke popped you should be able to get it reasonable true just tightening the new spoke.

Here's a tip. Leave the bike at the shop for the day and ride the bus.

- adjust spokes around broken spoke to correct the wobble.
- dont ride it much.


There you go- 2 actual tips for riding with broken spokes.
Just leave the bike at a shop and ride one of your other bikes for commuting. Or swap the wheel out for a wheel from one of your other bikes until a shop can fix the spoke. <--now there are 2 better ways to actually handle your situation.

Hitchhike.

Shirtless, long hair, shouldn't be a problem getting a ride.

My advice is "don't."

Slapping my forehead at what we're seeing on BF lately. You can't even make this stuff up! I read the thread title and before seeing the OP's name I'm thinking, "Larry's at it again?"

Larry, I respect the you're living car-free, even with some long-ish daily commutes. I admire your ability to get by on a minimal budget. But seriously, you need to be wise. When something breaks, either figure out how to fix it right, scrape together enough dough to pay a shop for the repair, or just don't ride. You're making yourself look like a jackass.

He's embarrassing himself, and damaging the image of the homeless folks and paupers who are car-free and biking it all over every day with some sort of competence.

Put another way:

Larry, when you do this sketchy, cheapskate stuff, you don't just make yourself look bad; you make all the shirtless, helmetless, pot-smoking, dumpster-diving, reckless cyclists look bad. Show some dignity, man!

Homeless people building a bike out of dumpster divings is a common sight around town. I think if you need it done, you learn how to do it. It's only human.

When you get the new spoke in, plink on the spokes around the wheel, just on the one side if it's a rear, and make the new spoke give the same sound. Then spin the wheel. Adjust 1/4 turn at a time after you get close.

Larry is basically this guy, but about 15 years after high school.

https://media.gettyimages.com/photos...5372?s=612x612

I get that these posts are entertaining for some but come on Larry...are you really that clueless?

Are you new here?

I'm left with two trains of thought.
The first is the guy is trolling for the comments and he wins lol.
The second is he is clueless and deserves his fate to ride the wobbly wheel forevah and evah.

"I needed the bike to get to work..... So I rode it 500 miles".

Sure, that makes perfect sense!

I have the first and last traits well in hand. This has worked decently well for me so far through life, though I just may be too stupid to conduct any meaningful introspection.

I have never encountered a shop that wouldn't sell a spoke same day.

If one has some kind of fancy bladed spokes, it is quite possible a basic round spoke will still work.

Truing the wheel just takes a little practice. A truing stand helps, but it can also be done on the bike.

I've broken spokes while riding, and took the time to do some quick adjustments on the road. In one case I broke a spoke 20 miles from home on approximately a century ride. So I trued the wheel the best I could with the missing spoke. Finished my century ride, then replaced the spoke at home. Unfortunately it was a major hassle to get it trued again with all the spokes.

Total bill for 2 new wheels (2 bikes had broken spokes) + labor to swap over the cassette and true things up and 3 tubes? 275$ Stuff is getting so expensive, at least they gave me a couple extra tires and tubes for free. I came to pick up my 2 bikes on another bike, and then tried to carry all 3 home at once and got accused of stealing bikes by a random person. Was honestly kind of upset at the time that he accused me, I was carrying 3 bikes/2 tubes and had made it a couple blocks from the store before taking a minute to lock up one of the bikes and ride away carrying the other. When i came back for the locked up bike this dude who had been eating outside at this overpriced mexican restaurant confronted me. At least my bikes are mostly fixed.

The bike shop (best one in town) confirmed what I already knew, once you start breaking spokes the wheel is likely needs to be replaced anyways. If youre paying someone else to do it its more economical to just replace the wheel, so you might as well ride a wheel with broken spokes to failure because its going to have to get replaced anyways.

Yeah ... the people who make money from selling you wheels than fixing them will tell you to destroy your wheels.

I replace broken spokes myself. A cassette lock-ring tool isd about $12, and you can make a chain whip or just use an old chain. Spokes are a couple bucks unless you buy larger quantities. i can replace a few spokes for about $12 since I have the tools ... $25 if I didn't i assume your wheels are costing you $150-$250?

Dumpster-diving vodka math

Not sure I'm following. Did you buy two new wheels and get the other wheels trued?

If he got two wheels for $275 and had them trued (assuming there were not straight and round when the shop got them .... ) then those are some .... inexpensive wheels.