Broken spoke and slightly buckled rear wheel

[mxer]

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..

 

[Woosh]

you should post the name of the good bike shop!

 

[Danidl]

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

 

[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?

 

[Danidl]

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.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Have a feel of the spokes. If some of them feel loose, you could get total meltdown when you ride the bike. If they all have tension in them, you have a good chance of reaching your destination. If you want to ride the bike with the broken spoke, you need to check the spoke tensions every 10 miles or so to make sure that they don't all start coming loose. if they don't have sufficient tension in them, the nipples will unwind as you ride the bike.

 

[Georgew]

.. 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

The wheel may run true but this does not mean that it's a good job.
Perhaps I'm cynical but I ran a workshop in a Bike Charity and have had to make good many bikes from Halfords which were dangerous....including one where the front forks had been reversed.

 

[Danidl]

The wheel may run true but this does not mean that it's a good job.
Perhaps I'm cynical but I ran a workshop in a Bike Charity and have had to make good many bikes from Halfords which were dangerous....including one where the front forks had been reversed.

.. maybe I was lucky or maybe Irish operatives were more competent, who knew.

 

[Georgew]

.. maybe I was lucky or maybe Irish operatives were more competent, who knew.

Now I know that this is an open invitation to tell one of these Irish jokes but I'm going to resist.

 

[Artmuzz]

I finally got a new spoke fitted onto my rear wheel at a local bike shop and it only cost me £10.

Only problem is that the mechanic only had a silver spoke so I now have a rear wheel with one silver spoke and all the rest black.

Anyway, at least the wheel is true again since the new spoke was fitted. I was hoping that the mechanic would of replaced the plastic ties that keep the electric motor wire in place at the rear wheel with tape so I can fix my rear wheel myself but unfortunately he tied the plastic ties back onto the wire.

 

[Nealh]

Simple answer is to get some double sided Velcro, so much easier then cable ties or tape and no pinching of wires.
I use it all the time now, cheapest way to buy it is in 30/50mm widths and cut it in to 10mm strips.

 

[Artmuzz]

So how do I remove the plastic ties on the electric motor wire so I can use double sided Velcro in its place?

 

[Tabs]

Wee pair of side snips or carefully with a Stanley knife, easy to do .

 

[Nealh]

Somewhere there is usually a gap, the ends of scissors will snip the tie off.

 

[Mariusz]

Hello
Does anyone know where I can buy a rear wheel rim only for my Carrera Crossfire ?
It is a bit buckled though spokes are intact. At Halfords they want to give me a complete new rear wheel with a motor which is not necessary.
They say they can not provide the rim alone. Usual story.
I could try to rebuild the wheel myself and take it later to local bike shop for trueing.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The problem with buying a new rim is that most likely it'll have a different ERD so the spokes will be a wrong length. If you knew which rim you had, you could probably find out the ERD and then get one the same, or you'd have to unspoke it and measure it. You could work backwards using a spoke calculator if you measure a spoke and the hub dimensions. lastly, you could get new spokes too to go with the new rim.

 

[Mariusz]

Thank you d8veh for such a prompt reply. I was thinking o buying the original wheel rim in order to avoid all these problems you are mentioning. At the moment my bike is being kept at Halfords for inspection and decisions but I can guess what the outcome is going to be. If they can't straighten the rim they will insist on giving me a new wheel. The wheel is made by DHV Components and I can only find one second hand for sale on internet. I'd rather buy a new one.
By the way ,what does ERD stand for?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

ERD = Effective Rim Diameter. It's the diameter of the circle where the nipple heads end up - something like the internal diameter of the rim plus 4mm. The idea is that when you've built the wheel, the spoke ends come to the top of the nipple without poking through. When you buy a rim, the seller should tell you the ERD so that you can use a spoke calculator to get the right length spokes. Sometimes, they get it wrong, so it's always better to have the rim in your hand and measure it to do a plausibility check on their ERD before you order the spokes.

All this sounds very complicated, but it's not. Spokes cost about £10 to £20, a rim £15 to £30 and building (in a shop) about £20 to £50 depending on whether you buy the rim and spokes from them. Worst case for fixing your wheel would be about £100.

When spokes break, the wheel buckles a bit, but as soon as you tension the replacement spokes, it'll go back straight. If, however, you damage the wheel, like when a car runs over it, it cannot be trued. It's not easy to damage a wheel in normal circumstances.

 

[egroover]

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.

I remember reading this comment a while ago, and it stuck in my mind having previously swapped out 3 spokes on my other wheel earlier in the year, so when a spoke pinged and snapped on me yesterday (1st one on this wheel), and with them they always seem to be on the cassette (drive) side...so after unplugging the electrics, taking off the wheel, removing the cassette, removing the plastic spoke protector, removing tyre/tube, replacing the spoke and putting it all back together again, I decided to NOT refit the plastic spoke protector thingy.

I then looked and as d8veh mentioned, I could see that any future spoke replacements could be done simply by theading a new spoke through the motor hub without having to take the wheel or cassette off. Just slip the tyre and tube to one side where the damaged spoke nipple is, lift the rim tape and replace the nipple and spoke. Turns a faffing oily 1 hr+ job (I've got quite efficient with it now !) into a 15 min quick pit stop.
Cheers d8veh for the tip !

 

[Mariusz]

Thank you once again. I learn something every day.
My local small bike shop said the rebuild would cost £40-£50 plus the cost of the rim so as you are saying the total cost £100 .If at Halfords they cant help I will use that little shop though I doubt they will be able to get the same rim.
Neither of my spokes is broken but one or two were loose. The wheel is not round and I feel it when cycling.
I'm glad that you can straighten the wheel with spokes .I may be lucky this time.