I was thinking of using a wine cork pushed all the way up the seatpost to hold 3-4 spare spokes. just twist them in a ways.

Or, push a cork down into the seat tube and use it that way instead?

seems like it would work and you could get to them with a 5mm allen if they were needed.

Is there a simpler way?

Cork-in-seat tube has its risks, particularly in a steel frame.
If water gets into the tube, it’ll stop at the cork instead of draining at the bb shell.
Cork-in-post is a better option.
As far as ”easier” goes, it depends on your aesthetics tolerances.
If it’s for the occasional tour, I’ve simply taped spokes to the frame for the duration of the tour.
BITD there was a Scott MTB with holders for spokes mounted on the chainstay.
They doubled as spares and chain slap protection.
Maybe not that clever. It’s possible that chain slap would nick a spoke deep enough to matter.
Ignoring that, a slick solution.

I used Styrofoam in my 920. There's a plug of it up at the top of the seatpost that surrounds the nipples (SpokePrep pre-applied), and another plug of it at the very bottom of the post. 300mm seatpost with 283mm spokes. The elbows just barely stick out past the end of the post, but it's in no danger of rubbing anything in my frame. They've been in the seatpost for about 600 miles and haven't budged or rattled a bit.

I've taped spokes under the left chainstay with clear Scotch tape. Barely noticeable, no trouble at all and accessible. I just carry two. One for front and left rear, one for right rear.

Ben

I have been using a wine cork in the seat post (not seat tube) for years. It dried out a bit, I wrapped some electrical tape around it to make it fit tighter so that it did not slip out. The nipples, I tightened them on the spare spokes enough so that they would not vibrate loose off of the spokes. The wires that are provided for closing your produce plastic bags in grocery stores or for closing bread loaf wrappers, I used those wires to make a bunch of loose spokes into a single bundle of spokes.

It gives you a reason to go out and buy a wine cork, bottle and contents are included for free. It works great. I carry two spokes of each size.

If you have several bikes where you store spokes on the bike this way, it solves one big problem, your spokes for that bike are on that bike. So, you do not have to worry about confusing which spokes are for which bike later. I have one bike with suspension seatpost, on that bike I carry the spokes in a pannier, but fortunately only one bike has loose spokes in a pannier so I do not confuse which bike those spokes are for.

I did not push the cork in so far that I need a cork screw to get it out, it is only pushed about two thirds of the way in.

Silly me, I just toss a couple in one of my panniers or tape them to a seat or chain stay. Not very James Bond-ish but easy to get to. Or carry a Fiber Fix spoke, which is very James Bond ; )

My touring wheelset uses 3 spoke lengths, so each rear pannier got 2 spokes in them, and 2 in one of the 2 front bags..

Only ever used the drive side rear of course.. 1 of 88








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Wrapped mine in cloth or paper towels and shoved them up the seat tube, since they were too long to use a cork in the bottom. Havent fallen out yet...

zippy-tied a half dozen to a rack support strut.
100000 miles never lost one.

I carry Fibrefix spokes, It's a cop out I know, but I don't want to take the wheel off on the side of the road. I have not had the need yet in 2 years of touring here in OZ on rough roads with heavy bike load and trailer.> I hope I haven't jinxed myself now!

Another Fibrefix user here. That said my Surly Long Haul Trucker actually has braze-ons on the chain-stay to carry two spokes.

Zip tied to the under side of the rear rack and haven't needed them in over 2,000 km

Use a Lizard Skin chainstay protector to hold a couple. It's simple, elastic and velcro holds them in place.

Marc

+1 more. Though it'd probably carry you across the country, it can also be replaced with a "real" spoke at the next bike shop, and the FF is ready to go if you ever need it again.

Tape them to the rack or chain stay. Done. My touring bike has a holder on the chain stay. My old touring / road bike had a holder on the rack.

But best to just get Fibrefix spokes. If I broke a spoke on the front I would likely replace with a real one. One the rear it would be Fibrefix.

Luckily my touring wheels are all the same spoke length which also shares the same spoke length as some of my other bikes which is kinda nice. I generally have carried them in my pannier but I think the foam in seat post idea is a good one.

A friend of mine broke a spoke while we were touring and I repaired it with a Fiber Fix spoke. Just out of curiosity, he continued to use it well after we got back home in order to see how long it would function before it wore out or caused other problems. After about 500 miles, he finally took it off only because he had grown tired of waiting for it to fail. Not sure how long they might last.

Great idea. I have one on my bike too. I would use it for spokes if the LHT didn't already have a spoke holder.

FWIW, for the dozen or so bikes in my family, I have found that in every case it was possible to pick one spoke size that will work in all three spots in a pinch. Generally if you choose the longest spoke that will work in the shortest position it will be long enough to work in the longest position with at least a few threads engaged.

When building wheels I find it very helpful to have the exact correct lengths because it makes getting the dish close to correct with almost no effort. Then it takes very little tweaking to get the wheel true. Similarly if lacing a new rim onto the existing hubs and spokes is easier with the correct sizes. That said once built it really doesn't matter exactly how long the spokes are as long as they are short enough to not protrude and puncture the tube and long enough to not pull out of the nipple.

My compromise is to carry one size and to swap out any replaced spokes with the exact length when I get home from the tour. Using a different color spokes for the spares is a good reminder to swap them. OTOH, just leaving them in isn't the end of the world.

Oh, and to the original question... I have taped spokes to a rack, used the braze-ons on the chain stay when available, carried them in a pannier, and even jammed them into the handlebar. All worked fine. Jamming them into the handle bar was kind of brutal and required some pre-bending, but they were easy enough to straighten and still worked fine. The pannier was my least favorite spot because I wound up handling them and fussing with keeping them from punching holes in the fabric. The other spots were all fine.

I tie a zip tie around the spokes. The tail of the zip tie stops the spokes from rattling around in the seat post. I keep the spokes in place inside the seat post with a bit of plastic bag stuffed up there.

I carry three spoke lengths, one front, two rear. I carry one of each. I also carry a fiberspoke. I build my own wheels and have never broken a spoke on a wheel I have built.

I don't even carry a spoke wrench. Something else that would work. Ya'll carry a chain whip and a cassette tool as well? Seems excessive?

I am glad I had a spoke wrench on one trip and on a different trip I was glad I had a cassette tool.

I went for seven straight years before I needed a spare tube or a patch kit on a tour. But I carried a spare tube and sometimes carried patches on every tour for those seven years too.

I have not broken a spoke for over two decades, but if I did not carry spare spokes I am most certain that I would need one.

A friend of mine was really glad I carried a couple spare bolts for when he needed one.

^^^^ Great, now you're jinxing me, thanks

My DIY Wheel builds I just got a few extras..

not absorbed by the latest gear marketed, I built Freewheel hub high spoke count, Only needed a freewheel remover for that one freewheel

When needed I borrowed a big wrench from the local , bought them a thank you round at the Pub.

I guess you could use a pair of needle nose pliers but there's a great chance you'll scar the nipple or spoke and it definitely won't work as well. Besides, it takes up no room and weighs so little. Btw, it's not only nice to have when you're replacing spokes but I've had to use my spoke wrench on a few occasions in order to simply re-true a wheel after hitting a large pothole or when I slid into a wall (not a pretty story)