Yan 

And not even at a spoke crossing point. And on a front wheel too. Snapped when I stood up for a sprint.

I'm guessing the spoke had a kink on it from the last time it was inside an S&S case.

fooferdoggie 

ya had one on a wheel with maybe 6000 miles aa sapim triple butted spoke

Tourist in MSN

Sapim spokes had a bad batch of steel a number of years ago, spoke breakage in the middle of the spokes was common. But if they are not Sapim, I have not heard of that before.

That looks like a Fiber Fix, is that correct?

I have one wheel with Sapim spokes, just took a look at it and there are no identifying marks on the spoke head that you can use to identify that brand.

Yan 

These were built by me so I know what spoke it is. DT Competition 2.0-1.8mm. DT has a stamped logo.

Fiberfix spoke, yes. First time using it, worked very well.

imi

Good to know. I’ve been carrying one for ages, but haven’t broken a spoke since dinosaurs roamed the earth

Tourist in MSN

The only spokes I heard of that broke in the middle were Sapim, so your DT failure is new to me. And because of their good reputation, if it happened to me I would be inclined to think it was a one off, not a warning of things to come. From the photo I am guessing it is a 32 spoke front wheel with SP hub, rim brake. In other words the kind of wheel that would be the last one I would expect to hear of a spoke breakage.

Nice to know that the Fiberfix works well. I bought my road bike as a complete bike, do not know spoke lengths, so I bought a Fiberfix to carry on that bike if I ever ride a brevet with it. And my light touring bike front wheel, I bought that as a used wheel, never measured the spokes when I replaced the rim so I should carry the Fiberfix on my next tour with that bike.

indyfabz

Any chance you got a stick caught in it?

Yan 

I rode on the Fiberfix today and it was fine. I'm 1500km from the next high end bike shop so it's going to be on the wheel for a while. I'm inclined to just leave it on, but I'm not carrying any other spares so I do need to replace it just so I can get it back.

Possible, but I think it's fatigue on a kinked weak spot from airline damage. That's the problem with S&S cases. You have so many bits interweaved though the spokes inside the case, inevitably stuff ends up shifting and pressing on the spokes. Every time I put the bike back together, I have to go through with a spoke wrench and check the wheels. Especially the front wheel that has the handlebar stored through it. Most of the time it's fine, but a couple of times I've found kinks in spokes, which I had to touch up the tension for.

imi

Yan: Do let us know if the Fiberfix holds up for 1500km, and how often you needed to retighten it (if you do)?

Tourist in MSN

I have seen comments on this forum before of people using a Fiberfix for a long time, but I think 1500 km would exceed that.

If worst case, you need more spokes and can't buy your size, buy some extra long ones and cut the heads off. Then try to do the Z bend thing. I have never tried that but if you have a narrow enough pliers, like a heavy duty needle nose, you might be able to do a Z bend. Spokes do not like to bend very easily so it would take a lot of strength to hold a pliers for this to work, a vice would work better than a pliers.

I did a google search with this forum name and "Z bend spokes", here is one link but they are mentioned in many other links, you could find more if you do a search:
https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-m...ire-wheel.html

Good luck.

Yan 

I replaced the Fiber Fix with a real spoke today after 1900 km. It required tightening 3 times during the first week due to stretch, but after that it stabilized and never stretched further.

Tourist in MSN

Thank you for the update on the Fiber Fix capability. Long term reports of something that works well are always helpful.

imi

Good to know,Yan. Thanks for the update.
Is the fiberfix still in good usable condition?

Yan 

Yes. I put it back in its box.