Broken spoke and slightly buckled rear wheel

Whilst cycling on my Carrera Crossfire-E I heard a snapping sound coming from my rear wheel. When I got off my bike I checked the spokes and one spoke has snapped broken. Since this has happened I have noticed my rear wheel is slightly buckled.

 

Would I be able to buy a spoke and fix it and get the buckled wheel back true again or is this a job for my local bike shop? I don't want to go to Halfords because I am having a bad experience with them. Please advise

Depending on what side of the hub has got the broken spoke will determine how much is involved,If it's the non drive side (the side without the gear cogs) it's just a matter of removing the tyre and tube to change the spoke and you'll find plenty of guides online on how to true the wheel, the drive side is just the same except you need to remove the freewheel/cassette (gears) to get access to the spoke.

You should buy at least 5 spokes in case others start to break. You sometimes have to bend the replacement spokes a lot to get them in, then straighten them afterwards. It depends which one is broken. After you tighten it, the wheel might straighten, bust most likely, it broke because others were loose, so you have to tighten a few then true the wheel. It's all easy if you know how. You have to a bit of internet research for how to do it.

I know I'm gonna be shot down...but still

 

I think wheel building is art. Anyone can learn to draw or follow YouTube to fix stuff

 

Youtube is brilliant for most stuff. Not wheels. Find a builder/artist and have them do it.

 

The reason you need 5 spokes because you'll fix one spoke but unbalance the wheel. Then the next one goes etc

 

Honestly I have recently made a wheel builder friend. It's amazing to watch and see how much is done through pure "feel" . Because they have done 1000's over 30 years. And they last

When I got my Oxygen e-bike I had already researched spoke issues and asked them to carefully check tension, using proper tools for each spoke, they actually did not do this before I asked, the shop thanked me and said they had invested in the equipment and will now do it for everyone.

 

The facts are that some spokes were not of the proper tension when coming off the factory line, this must happen occasionally, this is probably why your spoke bust, proper checks of spoke tension is needed, get a proper shop to do it, this is not something you should have to do yourself.

 

I actually got a proper MOT, certificate showing the before and after spoke tension, I think every shop should be checking spoke tension before the bike is handed over to the owner, the tools are not expensive.

Edited July 2, 20178 yr by Mal69

From personal experience nothing like a hand built wheel! Worth the money every time.

 

I have had good machine built wheels, but everytime they have had ended rebuilt by a human wheel builder.

If you have an offset (dish) in the rim, the spoke tension needs to be different on each side. if someone tensioned all the spokes the same, you'd lose that offset. Most rear rub-motors need an offset in the rim.

From personal experience nothing like a hand built wheel! Worth the money every time.

 

I have had good machine built wheels, but everytime they have had ended rebuilt by a human wheel builder.

 

 

The machines used to build wheels today are now more sophisticated than they once were, but they have yet to make a machine that can de-stress the spokes once the wheel has been built. The wheel when finished may be perfectly true but the in-built tensions in time may cause certain spokes to unwind in tension and become loose, resulting in too much flex and ultimately breaking.

When I buy machine-made wheels I immediately finish the wheel-building process by evening out the spoke tensions, bringing them up to the proper tension and then de-stressing the spokes to finish the job.

When I buy machine-made wheels I immediately finish the wheel-building process by evening out the spoke tensions, bringing them up to the proper tension and then de-stressing the spokes to finish the job.

 

We do same on all our bikes during PDI.

We do same on all our bikes during PDI.

 

 

Then you are in a very select company as the majority of cycle shops these days lack the skills or choose not to spend time on doing this. It's understandable given that it's a time-consuming process and certainly it's not a job that I'd entrust to Halfords.

we do it so many times that we can true the wheel, sitting down, talk and drink tea at the same time.

It's no sweat, really.

Thanks for the replies. However, I have just realised that it's going to be awkward to repair this myself because my bike is an electric bike and I'm a bit unsure about taking the rear wheel entirely off the bike because of the electrical wiring.

You don't have to take the wheel off to replace a couple of broken spokes and true the wheel.

Even if you prefer to take the wheel off, you should still put it back after removing the tyre and innertube. It's much easier to do this on the bike unless you have a truing stand.

Unfortunately, the spoke that broke is on the side of the wheel where the cassette is so I will have to take the wheel off.

You don't take the wheel off. You need to leave it on so that you can see where it needs truing. Just turn the bike upside down.

 

You lever the tyre off one side and push the rest to the same side so that you can get access to the rim tape and the nipple underneath.

he still has to take the cassette off to thread the new spokes.

The motor is bigger than the cassette, so the cassette doesn't impede the spokes; however, they most likely used one of those pointless plastic guards, which are just a bloody nuisance. I'd drill a small hole in it to get the spoke through rather than go to all the trouble of taking everything off.

the shop thanked me and said they had invested in the equipment and will now do it for everyone.

You're a hero.

I contacted Halfords and they told me that it will cost £25 for labour costs and a new spoke. However they told me it will take a week to repair because they will have to order the spoke. Hmm.

we do it so many times that we can true the wheel, sitting down, talk and drink tea at the same time.

It's no sweat, really.

 

It's true that practise does make perfect..............last one I did was from across the other side of the room using only thought control.

I took mine to a local bike shop that doesn't even specialize in e bikes in fact he hated them, lol

 

But no problem drew a new spoke from his draw measured cut, threaded, bent it like a banana (I was like, eek!!) Tentioned up, true'd the wheel.Done! Took him well under an hour, charged me £15.

 

I'm guessing there's bike shops then there's bike shops..

you should post the name of the good bike shop!

Then you are in a very select company as the majority of cycle shops these days lack the skills or choose not to spend time on doing this. It's understandable given that it's a time-consuming process and certainly it's not a job that I'd entrust to Halfords.

.. actually I supplied my local Halfords with a set of spokes and asked them to true a hub drive motor wheel, and I was am very happy with the result. Wheel is true, spokes fitted , excess spikes returned to me.. basically a very nice job

Thanks for the replies. I really depend on my bike but I was wondering if it would be safe to ride my bike with one broken spoke on my rear wheel even though the wheel has slightly buckled due to the broken spoke? Is it safe to do this until I get the wheel repaired?

Edited July 4, 20178 yr by Artmuzz

Thanks for the replies. I really depend on my bike but I was wondering if it would be safe to ride my bike with one broken spoke on my rear wheel even though the wheel has slightly buckled due to the broken spoke? Is it safe to do this until I get the wheel repaired?

Yes it's safe to do so, but with the following provisio the wheel is weaker, it is more prone to more buckling and you probably have to back off the tightness of the brakes. Before I got my wheel fixed there were a number of broken spoke . A small 16 or 20 inch wheel is a lot stronger against buckling than a larger wheel.