Bicycle Mechanics - Cold-Broke Spoke

This morning as I got on my bike for the ride to work, I heard that infamous pinging sound. I made it a few blocks down the street before the brakes began to rub, and I knew for sure that I had broken a spoke.

My question...I assume the spoke broke because of the drastic change in temperature (70 inside, 10 outside). Now, since the wheel is completely stock and 4 years old, would I be better off replacing the single spoke, replacing all the spokes or buying a completely new wheel? I will be riding all winter long, and I would hate to have to bring the wheel back into the shop later in the winter.

Purists will tell you to change all the spokes.

I say you can just replace the broken spokes. If you did not ride the bike too much with the broken spokes, the stress to the remaining spokes would have been limited.

Just replace the spoke. If you start breaking spokes regularly it could mean all of the spokes are fatigued, at which point you should replace them all. Although cold can certainly affect metal it seems more likely that accumulated fatigue was the culprit.

I agree fully with RainmanP on this one. I have built a few wheels in my day and fatigue is nearly always the culprit to broken spokes except for when sticks and rocks are to blame. Replace the brokens and carry on. If you break more then have the wheel rebuilt or replace it altogether.

-Ryan