How hard is it to replace a popped spoke?
 

The rear wheel on my commuter is prone to breaking spokes, and I'd like to learn to fix them myself. How difficult is it? I don't have a truing stand, but I do have a spoke wrench. I'm not too handy with it (I can *kinda* true out a wobble, but I suspect I'm messing up the spoke tensions when I do :-\ ).

So, how realistic is it for a total wheel newbie to replace a spoke and true his wheel back up? How can I get better at truing? (most instructions I've found in books and on the web are for wheelbuilding, not for simple repairs).

It's not that hard, even without a truing stand. Take the wheel off, take the tube and tire off thw wheel, unscrew the offending spoke out of the nipple. Find a spoke of equal lenght (when I say equal, I don't just mean for the same wheel size, but when you stand them up next to each other, they are exactly the same). If the spoke you took out broke somewhere away from the ends, you may need to take out another spoke to get the appropriate size. When you get the right spoke, reinsert it through the hole in the hub, and thread it so the pattern looks the same around the wheel. Don't be afraid of bending the spoke a little, it'll straiten out when you tension it.

To true the wheel, mount it back on the bicycle, and mount the bicycle somewhere where the rear wheel isn't touching the ground. Pedal, and find where it looks out of true. Here's the trick: when the wheel wobbles one way, tighten the spokes that start on the other side to pull it that way.

Hope that helps.

Pretty easy to replace a spoke without even taking the tire clear off. Just don't over tension it.

You can replace a spoke on a wheel without removing the wheel, assuming it's not a drive side spoke. That will probably require you to remove the cassette to thread the new one. Remember to put some sort of spoke prep on the threads before you screw it into the nipple. You can true it on the bike using your brakes as a gauge to judge out of round. I find that if I tension the spoke to be roughly the same tension as the others on that side, only minor truing will be required.
However, if you're experiencing a lot of spoke failures, I bet they're on the non-drive side, you probably have low tension issues with the wheel and all the spokes will be fatigued and just waiting for their turn to break. You would be best off to replace them all at once and get the wheel rebuilt. You will get a good long service life from the wheel after that.

Yep. Replacing a broken spoke isn't necessarily the same as fixing the wheel.

Survey says...BZZZT. :)

The broken spokes have all been on the drive side. The wheel itself is a little funny too - it's dished pretty significantly over towards the cassette, and the drive-side spokes are under a good deal more tension than the non-drive-side ones. I'm not sure how much of this is normal, but the wheel does look more dished than other road wheels I've seen.

When I get the bike back from the shop (guess what they're fixing?), I'll post a photo or some measurements.

You can check that the dishing is correct by putting the wheel in your bike backwards, and seeing if the rim is still centred between the brakes. Tension should be even all around on each side. This can be done by listening to the pitch when you pluck the spokes (dont want wheel reflectors for doing this).

+1

It's not really a choice. A rear wheel requires a specific amount of dish offset and spoke tension differential to center the rim. The center plane of the wheel rim should be on the center plane of the bike's frame. The offset dish is to make room for the cogs. When tension is added to spokes on one side of the wheel an offsetting amount must be added to the other side. 8, 9, & 10-speed rear wheels typically have 35% more tension on the driveside than on the non-driveside. Non-driveside "pulling" spokes are usually the first to break because the lower tension allows more flexing which causes metal fatigue metal in the "J" bend at the hub. Broken spokes usually means insufficient tension on both sides. However, the quality of the spokes also affects how durable they are.
It's good to learn wheel maintenance, whether you or someone else fixes it.

Al

I would lay odds that the wheel needs a rebuild. I would be buying more than one spoke. While this will help you in your quest to learn truing and tensioning it may get a little frustrating. It has been my experience that once a wheel begins to continuously break spokes; it is a sign that the wheel needs a rebuild. That would include all new spokes rather than just one or two. While your wheel has been sitting - out of true - with one broken spoke, others have been over stressed at the elbows. They may not break immediately but they will break prematurely. I have done for people exactly what you are about to do and replaced only one or two in a wheel that is breaking a spoke every so often. They didn't want to spend the money or time on 36 spokes. Soon after finishing the truing and while the tension was evenly balanced, the wheel "popped" another spoke. The wheel was just sitting there while we were talking and was not even mounted on his bike yet. That is a clear example of the stressed spokes I mentioned. Do yourself a favor and buy enough for the entire wheel. Sheldon Brown states on his web site that there is no better way to learn about truing than to lace a wheel from scratch. It gives you a better perspective on the forces at work in a wheel assembly.

Also as stated above by others as well, the single most important factor in the durability of the wheel build is evenly and properly tensioned spokes. A wheel can be true and even hold it's "true" with spokes that are tensioned poorly and out of balance and the wheel will certainly fail way before it's time.

WOW, everybody and their dog has broken spokes here, I have never broke one, but I have changed a lot of them for the pals, I do like the advise up above this post, the part about remove a good spoke and take it with, only thing I would add, if you like to break em, buy a few.

Bike wheels are cool.

Buy enough for a rebuild. You will eventually. Of that, I am certain. The real question is. How many times do you want to do this job? One good build will last thousands of miles. One "quick and cheap repair" practically guarantees many more. You save time and aggravation by doing the whole thing. If you are paying for the labor, you save by paying more now.

I have to imagine that, if you're breaking spokes that frequently, something is wrong. I'd go for a rebuild of the wheel, with proper tensioning, etc. Or maybe a new wheel with a greater spoke count if you're a clydesdale.