How To Replace A Broken Spoke | Fix Your Road Bike With GCN

It is possible to replace a broken spoke at home. Here's our guide.

Broken spokes don't happen very often, but, when they do it's easy to think of replacing them as an expensive job, a time-consuming job, or both. If you're feeling up to it, and your wheel isn't too specialist or too deep, you may well be able to do this job at home.

Here's our quick guide. Have you ever done this job at home? Let us know down in the comments.

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Music - licensed by Cue Songs

[graceodonnell]

Super! Showed me everything I needed to do the job all by myself! At age 54, I feel all the accomplishment of a toddler who has managed a spoonful of food!

[JackP]

Can we please just appreciate Simon's pun at the start of the video, "Broken spokes are a WHEEL nightmare"

[joethecyclist]

Always been a task that I felt was best left to a bike shop(in both efficiency and safety terms). Having watched this video, I actually reckon I could give it a go.... (although truing is still a dark art in my eyes!)

[l.g.friedrichs]

You picked the easy front wheel. Show us how to replace the broken spoke on a rear wheel - especially when the spoke is on the cassette side!

[pwat]

Undoubtedly one of the best descriptions of its kind I've seen, apart from two things:-
1) The bursts of music are disproportionately loud - Some people WOULD find it unpleasant. Please consider this if re-making, or in future instructionals.
2) The joke have to allow that one.

[hrhbucket]

That's a genius idea about using the old spoke to refit the nipple. I am going to use this method in future. I've had nightmares in the past trying to get the nipples back in. Thanks, very much appreciated.

[D.Eldon_]

Nice video. If you ever visit this subject again, I recommend providing a little more guidance with regard to spoke tension. Obviously, with a beginner-level "How To" video of this sort, you won't want to get into tension meters. But you could suggest that the user pluck the "good" spokes like a string on a guitar to hear their tone. Then tighten the new spoke until it produces the same tone (less tension for a lower tone, more tension for a higher tone). It's a very simple method to adjust spoke tension. If you suggest this technique, remember to alert the user that many rear wheels have different spoke tensions between the left and right sides -- so the user should only pluck and listen to spokes on the same side of a rear wheel.

[Orgakoyd]

Straight-pull is a type of spoke, not a lacing pattern-the other more common and basic type being the J-bend, where the head of the spoke is bent 90 degrees like an elbow. It's radial lacing where the spoke goes straight to the rim without crossing any other spokes-common on front wheels.

[coreyhoward]

Your explanation about tightening spokes in order to pull the rim in the direction of where the spoke originates on the hub I find is much clearer here than in the other wheel-truing videos. The visual representation aids in this as well.

[Name-lnsw]

These videos come in at the right time, just broke a spoke recently. :)

[patula]

Thanks Guys, you really doing a great job with this maintenance series. It’s even more useful nowadays when finding a decent bike service can be a challenge..

[Anonymouse]

The How to... videos of GCN are always my favourites. Clear as ever, Simon! Thanks. :)

[mrmakeadeal]

My spokes never broke like that, they always snapped from the spoke screw 🤷‍♂️

[pauljtee]

I was going to try to fix my broken spoke myself but after watching this, I’ll let a pro do it. I do every thing else myself so I really don’t feel bad about it

[BorisJohnsonMayor]

"Broken spokes are a 'wheel' nightmare" - Best joke of 2015 goes

[GrandmaandMrRon]

Been watching you guys for years. Helped me so many times like now. Dummy me, of course...put the nipple on a short spoke piece to get it through a deep rim properly! Why didn't I think of that, ha. thanks so much guys!

[HeatherSpoonheim]

When I replace a spoke, I mark it with a piece of tape to make sure that is the first spoke I adjust when truing the wheel. My goal is to only ever tension the new spoke to true-up the wheel because if there are other spokes out of tension then I really want to get it to the shop before I go messing things up worse than they were before I broke that spoke.

[elcanilla]

What about threading the spoke from the outside? How do you negotiate the spokes on the other side when bending it towards the rum?

[Toastybear]

yay :) finally a "new" video from ;)

[tomwong]

"Broken spokes are a wheel nightmare", what a wheely good pun si.