Originally Posted by
dubes
Well, the title pretty much sums up my question. Wheel is 700c, 36 spokes.
Self-inflicted wound: I nicked a spoke when my wrench slipped while loosening the hub locknuts (I needed to service the bearings). The scratch is ~6mm long, about 1.5 to 2 inches from the hub, and is probably mainly cosmetic, but it is something you can feel with your finger tip.
I guess I'm being extra paranoid because this is a front wheel and a disc brake wheel, and the scratched spoke is on the disc brake rotor side. I have visions of the spoke snapping while braking in some catastrophic fashion that causes it to hit the fork blade, lock up the wheel (with our without ripping out just about every other spoke), and send me flying.
So if this were your bike, would you replace the spoke or just ride as is? And if I'm replacing the spoke, I presume the safest way is to de-tension all of the spokes, replace the damaged one, and then bring everything back to proper tension / trueness / etc.?
I'd take the wheel to my LBS for an opinion, but the guys there focus on road bikes and, consequently, don't have a lot of experience with disc brakes (darn city slickers
).
Thanks,
Mike
I wouldn't worry. I broke spokes on my rear (disc) wheel on my MTB. The first time I didn't even notice I'd broken one, but took a look at the tyre because the back seemed a little squirrelly in the mud and noticed a broken spoke.
If you've got 36 spokes the chances are they are laced 3-cross or 4-cross, in which case if one breaks it's largely held in place by the others. The broken end will probably ping around a little but the scenario you describe sounds so unlikely you might as well worry about what happens if you're on a fast descent and your brakes fail.