broken rear spoke

Tom McCabe said:

I've been cycling to work for the past 10 months on a Ridgeback Genesis Day
01. Total mileage covered in this time is 4500mls. Yesterday a rear spoke broke , is it safe to
continue riding minus one spoke and if I do so will it cause any damage to the wheel?

It will be reasonably safe to continue for a day or so but your wheel is likely to get worse if ride
it much longer: further broken spokes, wheel going out of true, etc.

Quoted message said:

Should spokes break after this sort of mileage ?

Not if wheel built very well, but this failure is not uncommon.

Quoted message said:

I intend to replace the spoke tomorrow but I have to make the 25ml round trip to work today, hope
it's not going to cause any damage.

True the wheel a bit in the meantime if you can manage.

~PB

Tom McCabe said:

I've been cycling to work for the past 10 months on a Ridgeback Genesis Day
01. Total mileage covered in this time is 4500mls. Yesterday a rear spoke broke , is it safe to
continue riding minus one spoke and if I do so will it cause any damage to the wheel? Should
spokes break after this sort of mileage ? I intend to replace the spoke tomorrow but I have to
make the 25ml round trip to work today, hope it's not going to cause any damage.

It shouldn't break at all but seeing as its most probably a machine built wheel its actually done
quite well. Providing the rim is not rubbing on the brake pads (open the brakes out if necessary)
you should be OK riding it today but get it replaced over the weekend. Its not that difficult to do
yourself - follow the instructions on Sheldon Brown's website and use the upturned bike and brake
pads as a make shift truing jig. Once you've finished replacing and tensioning it put on some thick
gloves and go round squeezing adjacent pairs of spokes together as hard as you can. This stress
relieves them and reduces the probability of a breakage.

Tony

--
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to
adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George
Bernard Shaw

In message <[email hidden]>, Tom McCabe <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

I've been cycling to work for the past 10 months on a Ridgeback Genesis Day
01. Total mileage covered in this time is 4500mls. Yesterday a rear spoke broke , is it safe to
continue riding minus one spoke and if I do so will it cause any damage to the wheel? Should
spokes break after this sort of mileage ? I intend to replace the spoke tomorrow but I have to
make the 25ml round trip to work today, hope it's not going to cause any damage.

Many thanks

Tom McCabe

You haven't said how many spokes the wheel has. Looking at a picture it appears to have 20. Is this
the case on yours? There's probably a big difference between losing a spoke on a 20 spoke wheel and
a 36 spoke wheel.
--
Michael MacClancy

"Tom McCabe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've been cycling to work for the past 10 months on a Ridgeback Genesis

Day

Quoted message said:

01. Total mileage covered in this time is 4500mls. Yesterday a rear spoke broke , is it safe to
continue riding minus one spoke and if I do so will

it

Quoted message said:

cause any damage to the wheel? Should spokes break after this sort of mileage ? I intend to
replace the spoke tomorrow but I have to make the 25ml round trip to work today, hope it's not
going to cause any damage.

It can over stress remaining spokes, and once one goes others can follow rather quickly. This
may not be the case if there are "plenty" of spokes, but doesn't that bike have rather a low
spoke count.

You may be left in a situation where the spokes have started to fatigue, and may never be reliable,
whatever you do.

Tony Raven said:

Once you've finished replacing and tensioning it put on some thick gloves and go round squeezing
adjacent pairs of spokes together as hard as you can. This stress relieves them and reduces the
probability of a breakage.

Sheldons tip of an old LH crank makes quite a good tool for beinding the spokes round each
other, too.

--

-Alex

----------------------------------
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"W K" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"Tom McCabe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've been cycling to work for the past 10 months on a Ridgeback Genesis

Day

Quoted message said:

01. Total mileage covered in this time is 4500mls. Yesterday a rear spoke broke , is it safe to
continue riding minus one spoke and if I do so will

it

Quoted message said:

cause any damage to the wheel? Should spokes break after this sort of mileage ? I intend to
replace the spoke tomorrow but I have to make the 25ml round trip to work today, hope it's not
going to cause any damage.

It can over stress remaining spokes, and once one goes others can follow rather quickly. This
may not be the case if there are "plenty" of spokes, but doesn't that bike have rather a low
spoke count.

I'd be happy to ride 25 miles with 35 or 31 good spokes in my wheel. A low spoke count wheel is
a different proposition, however. With one missing it is likely to go sufficiently out of true
to become unrideable very quickly. I would also worry about the possibility of the wheel
collapsing under me.

--
Dave...

"Dave Kahn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"W K"

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It can over stress remaining spokes, and once one goes others can follow rather quickly. This
may not be the case if there are "plenty" of spokes, but doesn't

that

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

bike have rather a low spoke count.

I'd be happy to ride 25 miles with 35 or 31 good spokes in my wheel. A low spoke count wheel is a
different proposition, however. With one missing it is likely to go sufficiently out of true to
become unrideable very quickly. I would also worry about the possibility of the wheel collapsing
under me.

As its already "today" we'll see how he gets on.

With 160Kg on a moderately well built wheel, 35 spokes can easily go down to 32 ! At which point, I
decided it was time to give up.

"W K" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

It can over stress remaining spokes, and once one goes others can follow rather quickly.

Yes and no; it can't 'over stress' the remainder. One spoke is gone: the rim is under lower overall
compression (caused by fewer spokes) but the remainder can easily handle any slight increase in
tension this results in - I'm talking about when the bike isn't being ridden here. They are well
below the tension at which they break.

When you sit on the bike, the 4 or 5 spokes in 'contact' with the ground actually have their tension
reduced, not increased in any way. Where the spoke is missing, there are fewer spokes to support
your body weight: if their tension is low enough, the wheel could collapse into an unretrievable
'buckle' if they become slack. So, avoid bumping down potholes until the spoke is replaced.

The phenomenon of more spokes breaking soon after is more dues to them also being near the end of
life because of fatigue, a consequence of poor build technique as others have said.

My experience is that one broken drive-side spoke in a 32-spoke 700C wheel causes enough sideways
'wobble' to make the bike unridable due to tyre rubbing on chainstays. Goodness knows what fewer
spokes are like.

Quoted message said:

You may be left in a situation where the spokes have started to fatigue, and may never be
reliable, whatever you do.

Actually, the spokes start to fatigue the moment the bike was first ridden! The reason is that they
were probably not stress-relieved at all.

David Green

"Dave Kahn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"W K" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"Tom McCabe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

I'd be happy to ride 25 miles with 35 or 31 good spokes in my wheel. A low spoke count wheel is a
different proposition, however. With one missing it is likely to go sufficiently out of true to
become unrideable very quickly. I would also worry about the possibility of the wheel collapsing
under me.

--

I think it depends on weight - rider and any luggage. My rear should have had 26 spokes and I must
have done at least one 25 mile ride on it before I noticed it had dropped to 25, and then did
another 25 mile ride on it because I had to, before taking it out for repair. In the distance, it
hasn't gone significantly out of true, it hardly affected ride or handling and whether it was
significantly in danger of collapse is hard to say - although if the other of its pair went as well
I wouldn't be very optimistic about the prospects for the structural integrity of the wheel. But, I
don't weigh a lot either.

Rich

Richard Goodman said:

I think it depends on weight - rider and any luggage. My rear should have had 26 spokes and I must
have done at least one 25 mile ride on it before

I

Quoted message said:

noticed it had dropped to 25,

I just did a recount - it's actually a 24 spoke wheel reduced to 23! Rich

"W K" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

With 160Kg on a moderately well built wheel, 35 spokes can easily go down

to

Quoted message said:

32 ! At which point, I decided it was time to give up.

Well I guess we don't have to ask who ate all the pies.

[email hidden] (David Green) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

When you sit on the bike, the 4 or 5 spokes in 'contact' with the ground actually have their
tension reduced, not increased in any way. Where the spoke is missing, there are fewer spokes to
support your body weight: if their tension is low enough, the wheel could collapse into an
unretrievable 'buckle' if they become slack. So, avoid bumping down potholes until the spoke is
replaced.

The phenomenon of more spokes breaking soon after is more dues to them also being near the end of
life because of fatigue, a consequence of poor build technique as others have said.

The fatigue is caused by the repeated slackening and sudden re-tensioning of the spokes. If there is
a spoke missing, the spokes around the gap have more of the load to support and will experience an
increased amount of this. You may even hear them twanging as they snap back into tension. This
accelerates the fatigue so that spokes that spokes that were perfectly sound before the break will
quickly become worn out if the wheel is ridden too much.

--
Dave...

"Richard Goodman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Richard Goodman said:

I think it depends on weight - rider and any luggage. My rear should have had 26 spokes and I
must have done at least one 25 mile ride on it before

I

Quoted message said:

noticed it had dropped to 25,

I just did a recount - it's actually a 24 spoke wheel reduced to 23! Rich

I was about to ask what sort of wheel it was as it would have been a very strange (wire spoked)
wheel whose full complement of spokes was not a multiple of 4. Even Sheldon's POWer Wheels have 36
spokes. :-)

--
Dave...

In message <[email hidden]>, Tom McCabe <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

I've been cycling to work for the past 10 months on a Ridgeback Genesis Day
01. Total mileage covered in this time is 4500mls. Yesterday a rear spoke broke , is it safe to
continue riding minus one spoke and if I do so will it cause any damage to the wheel? Should
spokes break after this sort of mileage ? I intend to replace the spoke tomorrow but I have to
make the 25ml round trip to work today, hope it's not going to cause any damage.

Many thanks

Tom McCabe

Did you make it or are you still pushing? :-)
--
Michael MacClancy

"Tom McCabe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've been cycling to work for the past 10 months on a Ridgeback Genesis

Day

Quoted message said:

01. Total mileage covered in this time is 4500mls. Yesterday a rear spoke broke , is it safe to
continue riding minus one spoke and if I do so will

it

Quoted message said:

cause any damage to the wheel? Should spokes break after this sort of mileage ? I intend to
replace the spoke tomorrow but I have to make the 25ml round trip to work today, hope it's not
going to cause any damage.

Many thanks

Tom McCabe

Thanks for all the helpful advice. Made it to work the following day and replaced the spoke at work.
But I did manage to put a slight bend in the new spoke, think I'll replace it again without the bend
this time.

Many thanks

Tom McCabe

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Michael Macclan
[B]In message <[email hidden]>, Tom McCabe <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

I've been cycling to work for the past 10 months on a Ridgeback Genesis Day
01. Total mileage covered in this time is 4500mls. Yesterday a rear spoke broke , is it safe to
continue riding minus one spoke and if I do so will it cause any damage to the wheel? Should
spokes break after this sort of mileage ? I intend to replace the spoke tomorrow but I have to
make the 25ml round trip to work today, hope it's not going to cause any damage.

Many thanks

Tom McCabe

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Michael Macclan
[B]In message <[email hidden]>, Tom McCabe <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

I've been cycling to work for the past 10 months on a Ridgeback Genesis Day
01. Total mileage covered in this time is 4500mls. Yesterday a rear spoke broke , is it safe to
continue riding minus one spoke and if I do so will it cause any damage to the wheel? Should
spokes break after this sort of mileage ? I intend to replace the spoke tomorrow but I have to
make the 25ml round trip to work today, hope it's not going to cause any damage.

Many thanks

Tom McCabe

I got 16 spokes replaced in one of my wheels[1], the cost was estimated at about £20 but because the
wheel builder could not get the rim as true as he'd like & because he built the wheels originally he
charged only £15. With Shimano105 hubs and MA3 rim a new wheel would have cost more (a new hub would
be wider also requiring my frame to be cold set too).

It depends on the quality of the rim and hub as to whether a new would be a better investment than a
repair. If you fancy some new wheels to transform the bike then you now have a great excuse.

[1]Two spokes broke and were replaced in France, before this all spokes had been damaged with
the chain running off the block so once spokes had started failing I elected to get the whole
side replaced.

--
The Reply & From email addresses are checked rarely.

"rlmarr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Initially the rear wheel I am speaking of was a 50 machine build setup.

I usually have my machine-built wheels retensioned by hand. My bike mechanic charges very
little for this.

--
Guy
===

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