Oh No!

[Triskeliongirl]

Its trivial to replace a spoke. Just go to your LBS and they can either sell you the spoke and you can do it yourself, or they can probably do it while you wait.

[kfergos]

Hmm, I looked at the Fiber Fix thing -- neat. What actually happened was that the nipple sheared off right at the wheel, leaving the spoke mostly intact. I don't think the Fiber Fix thing would help in this case, but I may start fix-it stuff for this in the future.

Do you ladies break spokes often? I've never had this happen before, and it was very surprising. I usually associate broken spokes with big guys really hitting potholes hard or something.

[Biciclista]

i just ordered a couple of these for Christmas presents! thanks for telling me about it.

[7rider]

Wow. Bummer about the wheel.
Do you have the Mavic MP3 protection plan on the wheel? (don't know if it applies to custom built wheels, however) I got a 3-year plan with my wheels that (according to the LBS guy) would fix or replace the wheel even if damaged through a pothole or parallel grate accident. I don't recall the specifics of the program, but I'm sure the Mavic site has some info.
Also..since it's your front wheel, running the chain on a different cassette wouldn't be an issue...so would your LBS be able to loan you a wheel if it takes a while to repair yours? Might be worth asking.
I can't say I've broken more than one spoke in the past 10 years. I did wreck the rim of my rear wheel on my old Seven (a Shimano Ultegra wheel) in a parallel grate. That was a pain.

[smilingcat]

sounds like a defective nipple. Have never seen a nipple fail. Normal failure I see is that the spoke usually breaks right where it goes into the nipple or if installed incorrectly on the hub, it can sheer on the right angle turn into the hub.

Could the LBS have put way too much tension into all the spokes? Have them measure the tension on rest of the spokes. If its too tight, you may need to replace all the nipples. And if not corrected, you can split the flanges on the hub where the spoke goes into the hub failed hub photo

You may want to keep a cheap spare bike or set of wheels for emergency.

Do you have a ride to the LBS? I don't think you should ride with a way out of aligned wheel. You can potentially tweak the rims so it becomes ever so slightly pretzled.

Highly recommend that you get a ride to your LBS. Well I'm glad that you didn't get hurt. Bikes can be replaced/fixed.

ride safe,
Smilingcat

[redrhodie]

Did you get your wheel fixed?

[kfergos]

Yep! I rode very carefully to the bike shop and got there just fine. They took a look and determined that, indeed, the nipple and not the spoke had failed. The mechanic checked the other spokes, and they seemed fine, so he replaced the nipple and sent me on my way with no charge. I love my LBS.