I unlocked my bike today after dropping by a sporting goods store, and within 5 feet of movement a spoke broke on the rear wheel.

I am out of town for school right now so I don't have ready access to an LBS. Is it safe to still ride the bike after I remove the broken spoke? Or would the uneven pressure warp the bike if I put a load on it?

The wheel is a standard 32 spoke setup.

I think you will be fine, but I would be careful about hitting big bumps or potholes. I would also make sure the wheel doesn't get too much out of true.

where are you, siberia? look up a bike shop and have them replace the spoke, should be a pretty inexpensive operation.

Couldn't help myself.

Standard (black) spokes cost about $2-$4 something. Plus Labor

Seriously? At my shop we charge $1 a spoke, for a standard DT champion.

Oh sorry, i was talking about a black spoke. Unless my LBS is ripping me off =0

Okay, black spokes are more.

I'm assuming you broke a spoke on the rear wheel of your bike as that is where most breaks occur. The concerning thing about a broken spoke is that spokes, when properly tensioned, should last a long time. A broken spoke is generally an indication of a poorly built wheel, either very uneven tension or too low of tension. If you do nothing other than replace the broken spoke and retrue the wheel, you'll likely be repeating the process is a short amount of time.

If you want to save yourself some money in the long run, find a reputable LBS that has someone with the skill and knowledge to properly tension your wheel after replacing the spoke. It will cost you some extra money now, but in the long run it will be worth it. If you continue to ride the wheel as-is, you'll soon be looking at completely rebuilding the wheel as spoke failures will become more numerous at which point a full replacement is the best option.

How much is it for labor typically? And how long does it take to do a job like this? I don't want to take the bus to school... weather is finally looking nice

well chances are they will want to true the whole wheel, so probably around 60 bucks, but you can ask for the spoke, put it on, and true it yourself if you have a spoke tool handy.

Is properly tensioning the wheel after replacing the spoke that difficult? I'd think any bike shop would have the tools to do it, but maybe I'm naive.

It is not difficult. If your shop doesn't have the tools, find a new shop. Seriously, run away.

Labor for fixing a broken spoke is pretty ridiculous if its more than $10.

If you look a little helpless and pretty sad about it, theres a chance they could throw it in for free.

I've recevied free tightening on loose headsets and other bolts, as well as a wheel true, and a spoke straightening because it got bent for free, and i didn't even buy the bike there.

I simply looked lost and had that "I just broke something, will i ever be able to ride my bike again" attitude.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Usually depends on the people in the shop, their mood, and how bad the problem is.

If I were you I would just pay it.

You guys have it lucky if you have good LBSs and you should help in keeping them viable. In India we have no real LBSs worth their name. Nice guys and all but no stocks of ANYTHING.

Would love to have a nice LBS, and would certainly pay for good service.

And while you are at it- get the front wheel done aswell. If you just replace the one spoke that has broken- you might be getting more replaced shortly.

Learn to replace a spoke. Take the cassette off (assumming rear drive side, see Park Tool's website for instructions). Remove spoke. Lace in new spoke (noting the pattern of how the other spokes are laced.

Screw into nipple. Tighten until the tension of the spoke is equal to the tension of the other spokes, and the rim is true.

$25 worth of tools, and 1/2 hour poking around Parktool's website,and you won't have to worry about not being able to cope with a broken spoke again.

On a 32 spoke wheel, you're probably okay for awhile, but I wouldn't ride it unless I really had to.

A broken spoke is one of the few things I actually take my bike to the LBS for. It happens so infrequently that it would be more of a pain to keep extra spokes on hand. Last time I think it took 30 minutes and cost $13-15.

I'll admit I would likely use a shop as well, mostly because I'm lazy, and also because I trust a good wheel builder to a better job getting the tension right.

However, if you're going to ride where shops aren't always around or open, or go out of town on multi day trips, its a good idea to be capable of doing it yourself.

As a matter of practice, when I get a new wheel set, I also get 3 spokes, front, rear drive side,and rear non drive side, and toss them in the tool box. Cheap insurance.

WOW....you pay 60 bucks for that? I had new spoke installed and true wheel for 20..60 is a RIPOFF

A true wheel isn't necessarily a properly tensioned wheel. The latter is far more important for the longevity of the wheel than the former which is only really an issue for braking. A simple spoke replacement and truing, which involves nothing more than tightening the replaced spoke until the wheel straightens out is a 15 minute job, max. Using a tension meter to check each and every spoke, adjust for tension, then adjust for true, then recheck for tension, etc., etc. is a far more involved job but if you are breaking spokes, it's my opinion that you should have it done sooner than later. Spoke breakage is made out to be something far more acceptable than it should be presumably because of the prevelance of machine built wheels with horribly uneven tension. That's part of the value of a hand built wheel; the builder has taken the time to adjust both true and tension (and tensioning at the appropriate level) which yields a very durable wheel.