Broken spoke

[li10up]

I was just riding along enjoying all the Christmas lights during our ride last night when I started hearing this squeaking noise. I slowed down some because I couldn't tell if it was coming from my bike or one of the others. I called out the the boyz and I pulled into a church parking lot under a light. My back wheel would not turn at all. Don't know how I was riding on that thing! I had a broken spoke and the wheel was so out of true it wouldn't budge. The people I had been riding with realized I wasn't with them and doubled back. They left me there and came back to get me with a vehicle. Thankfully it wasn't very cold and there was no wind. I got chilled just waiting for a few minutes. At least we were only about two miles from our vehicles so I didn't have to wait too long. A cop went by and I tried to flag him down with my headlamp - just to have him keep me company (and safe) until the boyz came back...and maybe let me sit in his warm car. But I guess he was too busy talking on his cell phone to notice me.

Anyhow, the lesson to this story is check your wheels and pay attention to what they tell you. For the past week I've noticed that my wheel was a bit out of true when I spun it but then I didn't do anything about it. Lesson learned the hard way. My DH is going to drop off the bike at the LBS this morning for me. Hopefully they can have it fixed by 5pm so I can do the ride Sat. morning.

[Melalvai]

I had a friend with repeatedly broken spokes on the drivetrain side, apparently this is a common casualty of hauling a heavy trailer, and he ended up getting good at fixing them himself. The bike shop let him use their truing stand, and the spoke itself plus a spoke nipple only costs a dollar or so.

[DebW]

I had a friend with repeatedly broken spokes on the drivetrain side, apparently this is a common casualty of hauling a heavy trailer, and he ended up getting good at fixing them himself. The bike shop let him use their truing stand, and the spoke itself plus a spoke nipple only costs a dollar or so.

Sounds like your friend didn't have a proper wheel for the job he needed to do with it. A new wheel with more spokes and heavier spoke gage could have saved him repeated spoke replacements.

[li10up]

Well, I'll be without my bike all weekend. The have to order the spoke! It's one of those bladed ones. Guess I'll have to break out the old bike.

[Pedal Wench]

Well, I'll be without my bike all weekend. The have to order the spoke! It's one of those bladed ones. Guess I'll have to break out the old bike.

can't you just swap out the wheel with the old bike?