Looigi

Broke a rear drive-side spoke 20 miles into a 110 mile ride. I had a Fiberfix temp Kevlar spoke in my saddle bag and it allowed me to complete the ride. There wasn't enough travel on the threaded portion to get it tight enough to sufficiently true the wheel so had to slightly loosen the two opposing spokes on either side of the broken spoke.

fietsbob

so it stretched, didn't really work,
, in spite of pulling it, short, in the installation of the cord, and wound up on the nipple,
until thread ran out. ?

you compensated for it not functioning by doing what you may have , without it
..de tensioning the spokes opposing the missing one?

OTOH, Bringing a proper spare spoke .. replacement takes more time .. once.
one will have to replace that fiber thing with a real spoke , next..

Premeditated alternate choice, I built touring wheels, with abundant spokes in them,
myself. spares in the wheel., the spoke break got the spot truing,
and I rode for a few days more , until I got around to doing the replacement

best hub design unfortunately few hubs [none current]
use the double keyhole drilling to pass the hook head thru the flange ,
then tension pulls in a narrow slot , either side of a larger hole

....with the gears in place..


******


I see all sorts of race wheels under tourists , touring the coast, come thru the shop

yesterday a Korean Guy lucked out, we had a black bladed spoke that fit.

Looigi

Nice "stream of consciousness". Good for you, and happy touring. I'll just mention that I wasn't touring on a touring bike and don't take replacement spokes with me for general road rides. The Firberfix spoke took most of the warp out, and I'm sure could have taken it all out with sufficient take up, but as it was I took 1/2 turn out of the adjacent opposing spokes. IMO, it worked, and would have worked replacing any of the probably 6 different spoke lengths on my or my wife's bikes, or anybody else's bike.

fietsbob

So I guess 1/2 a** working is good enough in a pinch.
A tourist comes thru wanting one, shop, sells 1 every couple years, at best.
, and the kevlar deteriorates over time, like all synthetic fibers , hanging on the wall ,

so all fans of those things, need to get one in the Major Metropolises .
and hope it hasn't hung in the sun, on the wall in its header bag too long ..

SBinNYC

I take a few spokes of proper length and put them inside the handlebar, put back the end plug and forget about them until needed. Do this for each bike you have.

blamp28

I had a fiberfix spoke at one time. I used it in a pinch in the same manner as the OP did on a friend's bike on a long ride in order to get home. I did have the same experience and my reaction is that of fietsbob. I no longer carry one as I was disappointed in the overall quality - though it did get us home without further incident. On a happy note, the friend felt obliged to repay me for my spare spoke and mechanical time on the ride so I received some awesome Micro-Brew IPA. I got the better deal by far.

rogerstg

I carry one and have used it to complete 70 miles of an 80 mile ride. FWIW, I had good results by loosening the adjacent spokes a couple turns prior to taking all the slack out of the line just prior to tightening (all 3 spokes). It allowed me to get to get adequate tension and trued well enough to not require any brake adjustment.

It's no wonder few customers buy them from Bob, given his cranky attitude toward the product.

Drew Eckhardt 

When I broke one of 32 front spokes I opened the brake release and finished my ride.

After getting where I was going I tweaked the adjacent spokes on both sides of the wheel, closed the quick release, and lived with 31/32 spokes for a few hundred miles until I got around to rebuilding a wheel with a bent rim.