Broken rear spoke on non-drive side
 

So I broke my first spoke today, and it was on the rear wheel, non-drive side. I got the new spoke and armed with a fairly old e-how article, got it replaced and tightened so the wheel is now reasonably true.

My concern is that I think I was doing something wrong when I replaced it. I know when the spoke breaks on the drive side, you've gotta remove the cassette because it blocks the holes on the hub. I thought for the non drive side it'd be okay to skip that part though. However, I wasn't able to thread the spoke through the hole on the non-cassette side of the hub because the stupid thing just got in 3 inches and then hit the cassette, and I couldn't angle it to go through.

I did end up getting it in, but I bent the CRAP out of the spoke doing it. Once I got it through, I straightened it by eye, and then installed it normally. Now that it's in there, it looks straight enough, and the wheel's not wobbling anymore, but I can't imagine it's okay to bend the spoke when putting it in there. So was I wrong? Do you have to remove the cassette for EVERY rear spoke replacement?

It depends on how big the biggest cog on your cassette is and how far apart the hub flanges are, as you seem to have discovered.

If the spokes are evenly tensioned and the wheel is true, I wouldn't worry. I regard replacing single spokes as a temporary repair, when one spoke breaks then a few more aren't far behind. Keep an eye on the wheel, true it again if it goes out of true, and when you start breaking more spokes think about building your own wheel.

As long as there is no kink in the spoke when it is under full tension then it is ok.

Spokes are wire and are made to bend. But as Smokester said if you didn't bend it to the point of kinking it'a OK. You did good!

I've always done as you did and it has been fine.

I had those same thoughts the first time I did that. It freaked me out, but everything has held up fine.