This evening as I was riding my fixie, I noticed that my rear wheel was really wobbly. I thought someone had stepped on my wheel or something, but it turned out that I broke a spoke without even noticing it. This doesn't come as much of a surprise since the twenty-year-old spokes are pretty oxidized. I managed to limp home, and I've put the bike in the shed until I can get a new spoke.

I guess I'll be saving up for a new wheel. I've thought about re-lacing it, but I don't have a truing stand, and the terrible wheel isn't really worth it.

Sigh. It's sad to be without the fixie.

They have reusable kevlar repair spokes. You can rock it until you buy your new wheel. $10 from Harris Cyclery.

Seems worth it to me.

It is super easy to replace a spoke. Head to your LBS and they can sell you one for about a $1. Easy to lace up.

If you want to rebuild the wheel, there is no need for a truing stand. I built my fixie wheels without a truing stand and they turned out great.

I agree with labrat. Truing stands are over rated. You're not building wheels for lance. especially if you're just replacing one spoke.
but yes, save up for new wheels. We should all be saving for new wheels.

Hey labratmatt, what did you use instead of a truing stand? Just a fork and brake pads?

yes use the brake pads. I also used to rest a pencil on the chain stay pointing to the rim and spin the wheel to find the wobbles. Of course now I have an 'over rated' truing stand and it takes the guess work out of everything.

My own personal method is to strap a bent spoke to the stay/fork. I add a round at one end so as not to be poking at my rim with a sharp bit of metal and then an inch or two further down I'll add an L-bend. Now strap (velcro ankle strap works pretty nicely) the long part of the L to the stay and rest the lateral "arm" (short part of the L where the round is) against the rim wall.

You can rotate the spoke shaft to adjust the distance between the feeler and the rim. Strap another to the other side and position it over the top of the rim and you can do lateral and radial truing simultaneously (assuming the rim doesn't have any actual blips). This is amazingly useful as you can simultaneously notice something along the lines of, the rim is is a little flat, pulling left, and has pretty high tension to the left flange. Being able to see all those things at once means that you can immediately recognize that all you need to do is let a little tension out of the left spoke to correct the lateral and radial truing in one simple move.

Using this method, I've built wheels as true as anything I could buy at my LBS.

that spoke idea of BT's is a good one. how about the bent end pointing towards the rim being the threaded end and putting a nipple on it to make it adjustable?
(sorry jfmckenna, I didn't mean to imply that I wouldn't like a truing stand. but shoot, the $150 for the park shop model would buy 3 seventies 10 speeds and cogs for conversion! Lets get our priorities straight!)

jfmckenna's got the idea. I learned the pencil trick just a couple of weeks ago. I'll try to post a pic later tonight. PM if you don't see it tonight. It's a real handy trick.

Like BT, my home trued wheels seem to be as true as anything at the LBS. The only disadvantage (I can think of) of not having a truing stand is that it takes quite a bit more time to get things right. Works fine though, if you're patient.

A nipple might work, it would also give you a smooth end without having to go to all the effort of bending the end. On the other hand, flipping the arm of the spoke around is way faster than screwing the nipple in and out. Doesn't seem worth the hassle.

Ouch yea that is a lot. I love my girl even more for such a sweet birthday present