Originally Posted by
GhostRider62
Larry, I have not broken a spoke in ages but this is what I do. Assume we're talking the rear wheel. Widen the brakes up as much as possible. I've ridden many hundreds of miles that way when no recourse was possible. Ride slow and don't pedal hard. Evaluating individual risk is difficult because nobody knows what components are involved. YMMV
What I do generally is to have the spokes bought in advance. I carry them either on the left chain stay or if it is a pretty bike, they go inside right handlebar.
Replacing a spoke takes minutes. I cannot believe how *****ty bike shops are nowadays.
I'd forgotten about the practice of storing spokes inside handlebars. Some of the guys I rode with in the local bike club in 1964 and thereafter kept spare spokes in their handlebars. Didn't understand why they bothered until I broke a few spokes. Spokes were generally of lower quality back then and wheels were rarely tensioned to the levels common today. Hence, do enough miles training, touring, or racing, and you were likely to begin breaking spokes.