Bicycle Mechanics - 101 Uses for a Dead Spoke (Well, a couple anyway)

Since I am a packrat by nature (Rainbabe REALLY hates that), I have hung on to a couple of the several broken spokes I wrote about a couple of months ago. It just seemed a shame to throw away a nice stiff piece of stainless steel wire. The last few days I have actually found uses!

1. A spoke broken right at the head rather than the elbow still had the elbow. I used it for fishing washers, bearings in retainers and other "hookable" stuff out of mineral spirits where they were soaking.

2. The same little elbow was put to use, smoothing out the grease in a hub cup then, with a small gob of grease, picking up small bearings and placing them in the grease.

3. Bent in half so that the ends were even, I placed a twice-folded (4 layers) paper shop towel over the ends like a large, expandable cotton swab, to clean the fixed cup of my bottom bracket. Worked like a charm.

4. The straight end of the spoke, in one of the two pin holes, was sufficient to remove the dust cap from my crank and later replace it it.

5. I stuck the hook end under the O-ring/rubber band holding my computer on and hooked the wire to pull it under the rubber band to provide a little slack that can be pulled out if the wire gets hooked on anything so the wire does not get broken.

6. Somebody STOP me! :D
Rainman

I have successfully used 14 gauge steel spokes as Shish-kabob skewers. I also used a bent spoke to unlock my old car when I locked my keys in the car... the LBS tech came up with the idea, it worked.

I knew I kept those things for a reason!:thumbup:

Originally posted by RainmanP

2. The same little elbow was put to use, ... with a small gob of grease...
Elbow grease, of course.... sorry

Don't forget about the very comforting use of old spokes as ear wax cleaners. This drives my wife nuts, but OOoooooo. Nothing else reaches the sixth sense area inside your ear like an old spoke with an elbow.

Originally posted by mike
Nothing else reaches the sixth sense area inside your ear like an old spoke with an elbow.
I hear Huffy is going to market a mechanized spoke-ear-wax-digger as soon as they acquire Remington...

Originally posted by JonR

I hear Huffy is going to market a mechanized spoke-ear-wax-digger as soon as they acquire Remington...


Hee hee heeeeeee. Jon, Jon, Jon. You are in rare form today. That's funny.

Rainman, you are a credit to packrats everywhere! :D

Originally posted by AlphaGeek
Rainman, you are a credit to packrats everywhere! :D

I always make sure to tell Rainbabe when I find a use for one of the hundreds of things I hang on to. I love the way her eyes look when they roll back and you can only see white. :D

You know, picking up the little bearings with a gob of grease made me feel like the video of chimps fishing for tasty termites with a piece of straw. Hmmm, that's about how I feel any time I get any tool in my hand.
Raimman

Originally posted by RainmanP

You know, picking up the little bearings with a gob of grease made me feel like the video of chimps fishing for tasty termites with a piece of straw. Hmmm, that's about how I feel any time I get any tool in my hand.
Raimman

Raymond, now that you are getting into the heart of bike maintanace, you need one of those tools with a magnet attached to the end of a long handled spring. 'Taint nothin' better for finding bearings and small parts that roll into weird places. These tools are less than $5.00.

Originally posted by mike

...you need one of those tools with a magnet attached to the end of a long handled spring. 'Taint nothin' better for finding bearings and small parts that roll into weird places.

You are correct, Sir! I must get one!

Ray get a hold of an old hi-fi speaker magnet,drop it on the concrete floor and voila! lots of magnets ! attach any one of the "little" pieces with some epoxy the the end of an old spoke..and double voila! a-pick-it-up-thinga-majigga...Woo-Hoo. and with the biggest bits of the magnet,a couple'O'swipes against it with a screwdriver ..and triple voila!..your screwdriver now holds those teeny "steel" screws on the end of it !!magic!.....Oh and by the way,never get rid of dead butterflies and moths...they make ideal hang-gliders for little bugs !!!:D

Originally posted by Buddy Hayden
and by the way,never get rid of dead butterflies and moths...they make ideal hang-gliders for little bugs !!!:D

I can see you're a naturist at heart Buddy...

p.s. note, I said Naturist, not Naturalist! :D

Rich

Buddy,
As a matter of fact I have a couple of old dead speakers that I use whole. Here's another tip. Put the speaker in a plastic bag, magnet down (or just cut the framework off the magnet). Holding the top of the bag, use the magnet to pick up little nails, or screws you have dropped. When done, turn the bag inside out over the nails, etc. Voila, everything pulls right off the magnet contained in the bag and tidy, ready to throw away or put bag in the container you knocked over.

I forgot another use for a spoke - use one end to unscrew the crank bolt dust cap. Or you could get energetic and bend one to make a servicable little pin spanner. One end works, though; the little plastic caps aren't that hard to unscrew.
Regards,
Raymond

Originally posted by RainmanP
you could get energetic and bend one to make a servicable little pin spanner. One end works, though; the little plastic caps aren't that hard to unscrew.


Now that IS particularly clever.

We endeavour to provide satisfaction.

I like Number 2 on your list of uses for old spokes.

Hey guys,

Here's another use for old spokes. take one and bend it into a small (quarter size) loop. Then put it on a grinder to make a point on one end, and voila! A little pry to open up the ends of brake cables when you cut them and flatten them. Give it a couple of turns and you have smooth action on your brake cables.

If you want to get creative and are somewhat artistic, you can loop an old spoke around into a bracelet.

If you really want to get creative, go buy a bladed multi-colored Ti spoke and bend it around your Camelback hose to position the drink valve directly in front of you. A friend of mine did this and it looks cool and works great!

Later Gator.