Originally Posted by tFUnK

I had a spoke break on my rear wheel. In terms of repair, obviously the simplest thing to do is to get a replacement spoke, install it, and then bring the wheel to true. I'm aware that while this may be the simplest fix, it may not result in the most robust wheel.

A search on these forums suggests that the best practice is to respoke the entire wheel. I interpret "respoke" to mean to get all new spokes - is this an accurate interpretation? Relatedly, rather than replacing all of the spokes, can I get away with replacing just the affected side spokes and reusing the old spokes from the unaffected side?

The other thing I'm considering is to loosen (but not remove) all of the spokes, install the replacement spoke, and then re-tension (and bring to true) the entire wheel. The thinking is that I'd be reusing all the old spokes except for the single new replacement spoke, and essentially rebuilding the wheel so that it is tensioned properly. Is there merit to this approach?