Broken spoke. Safe to use?
Broken spoke. Safe to use?
Author
Discussion

PurpleMoonlight

Original Poster:

22,362 posts

186 months

Sunday 1st June 2014
quotequote all
For a road bike.

Ta.

Magic919

14,493 posts

230 months

Sunday 1st June 2014
quotequote all
Probably. Assuming you don't have tri-spoke wheels you ought to be ok. Some fatties find the others start letting go shortly after, but I don't know your weight.

Steve vRS

5,394 posts

270 months

Sunday 1st June 2014
quotequote all
I would say so. I ride 50 miles once on a broken spoke.

A fortnight earlier, one broke and I limped gone only for the bike shop to say I would have been fine on it.

As the wheels were starting to unzip, it was a good excuse for an upgrade : D

Steve

TwistingMyMelon

6,509 posts

234 months

Sunday 1st June 2014
quotequote all
Depends on wheels , weight and bike usually fine .

I've broken one and done 50 or so miles home fine, you can see the buckle tho

A mate broke one and he rode home , due to the buckle the wheel rubbed on his frame rubbing into the CF frame and ruining the tyre and nearly the frame !

Jimbo.

4,220 posts

218 months

Sunday 1st June 2014
quotequote all
PurpleMoonlight said:
For a road bike.

Ta.
16 spoke wünder wheel? No.

32+ spokes? It'll get you to work. Just don't expect it to remain true forever.

PurpleMoonlight

Original Poster:

22,362 posts

186 months

Sunday 1st June 2014
quotequote all
It's a 24 spoke wheel.

MysteryLemon

4,968 posts

220 months

Sunday 1st June 2014
quotequote all
One of mine broke and I didn't realise until about 25 miles later. I'm still alive to tell the tale although there was a noticable buckle in the wheel and the brakes were rubbing on every revolution.

I wouldn't ride on it if I really didn't have to. It's just putting excess strain on the other spokes.

lipadier

290 posts

197 months

Sunday 1st June 2014
quotequote all
My Cannondale R1000 racing bike had 28 spokes at the rear wheel when I bought it 10 years ago. Since more than 4 years it has only 27. And I use the bike 3 days per week. No problem.

Fastpedeller

4,347 posts

175 months

Sunday 1st June 2014
quotequote all
PurpleMoonlight said:
It's a 24 spoke wheel.
In which case probably not. If the other spokes have good tension, then it will be seriously out of true - then again they may not have had good tension, hence the likelihood of breaking a spoke in the first place!

upsidedownmark

2,120 posts

164 months

Sunday 1st June 2014
quotequote all
Safe - probably. Highly unlikely it will spontaneously collapse. Good idea, probably not. Rubbing brakes can be solved, but a good chance it's rubbing on the chainstays. You'd be surprised how quickly that can make a mess of the frame, particularly if it's carbon.

Edited by upsidedownmark on Sunday 1st June 20:56

PurpleMoonlight

Original Poster:

22,362 posts

186 months

Monday 2nd June 2014
quotequote all
Guess it's best not to use it then.

Many thanks.

matt-ITR

892 posts

218 months

Monday 2nd June 2014
quotequote all
Probably safe enough to use for a short period of time, but I would get it fixed ASAP.

It's a 5 minute job for a bike shop, especially if you can take the tyre off ready.

AyBee

11,321 posts

231 months

Monday 2nd June 2014
quotequote all
matt-ITR said:
Probably safe enough to use for a short period of time, but I would get it fixed ASAP.

It's a 5 minute job for a bike shop, especially if you can take the tyre off ready.
Why do you need to take the tyre off? confused

Wheel off, cassette off (if applicable), brake disc off (if applicable), replace spoke, make wheel round again. Did it over the weekend on my mountainbike, couldn't believe that a spoke was £1.20 redface