Tourist in MSN

When I made the comment above that you should: ... Buy and label a few extra spokes and nipples in case you break one later, you have the correct length to match the wheel ... I was not thinking you should carry them on the bike when on a brevet. What I was getting at was if you break a spoke, it is nice to have a replacement of the right size for when you get home because buying a couple spares when a wheel is built is the cheapest and easiest time time to buy them.

For a brevet, I do not carry the tools to remove a cassette, so even if I broke a spoke and if I had the right spoke with me, the odds are that I could not replace a broken spoke. The suggestion above for a Fiber Fix emergency spoke is the best way to be prepared on a brevet if there is a concern about a broken spoke, you do not need to remove a cassette if you break a drive side rear spoke if you have a Fiber Fix.

I built up the wheels for most of my bikes, and I always bought a few spares when I built those wheels. I built my first wheel about half a century ago, I have never broken a spoke on a wheel I built, but I still keep the spares just in case. I bought my road bike as a complete bike, I do not have spare spokes for the rear and was too lazy to measure the length, so I bought a Fiber Fix for that bike.

You do not have to have the same number of spokes front and rear, when I built up my light touring bike I used 36 for rear and 32 for front. When I load this bike down with my camping gear in four panniers, the front wheel has a lot less weight on it than the rear so I felt that 32 in front was adequate.