So just to start off: went to a bikeshop straight away and got it fixed. What I'm worried about is if it will happen again or would this cause more problems later on?
I'm on a roughly 3000 km tour across Europe at the moment. Currently at about 1100 km and 3 weeks in. I had zero problems with my bike so far, but today when I stopped to take some pictures, I noticed that one of my rear wheel spokes had broken off at the rim. Don't know how long I was riding like this, but luckily the wheel was just a little bit out of true, not really noticeable. I was just outside a town that had a bike shop so I went there and the guy fixed the spoke in about 20 minutes, so that's all sorted.
The bike is a Marin Four Corners and everything is stock on it, but I thought this would be good enough for mostly Eurovelo and national cycle routes. Alltogether I think I'm carrying 22-25 kg load, probably about 18-20 kg of this is on the rear panniers and rear rack, and I'm about 80 kg myself, so I'm pretty sure the bike should be good with this much weight.
I tend to be an overly anxious person, so that's why I'm trying to get some input on this, as I don't really have any experience with this.
Do I need to worry about spokes breaking again? Any other problems this could cause long term, even if I got it fixed? Should I buy some spare ones and get some tools so I can fix it myself? My initial thought was that I'm always close to towns where they should have a bike shop, so riding about 20-30kms max would not be that bad, if it's just one spoke broken. But now I'm not sure if this is going to be a more regular thing or not.
I was even thinking of stopping somewhere and buying a better rear wheel maybe, but that might be just my anxiety and overthinking.
Also, would it help to shift some weight to the front and middle from the back? I don't think I can move much around, but I've got some small and heavier stuff in the rear panniers, like my powerbank, u-lock, that I could move to the handlebar bag or the framebag.
by semmilyen
10 Comments
If you have a spoke wrench, you can get by temporarily by adjusting adjacent spokes. Depending on your wheel quality, you may wanna fix it(or get it fixed) or get a new wheel altogether.
On my first tour, my wheels weren’t suitable for the load. I broke 8 spokes at the back over 2000 km. Not a great experience at all.
Good luck.
>Do I need to worry about spokes breaking again?
Possibly, but it shouldn’t be your overriding concern.
>Any other problems this could cause long term, even if I got it fixed?
Nope. Things on bikes wear out no matter what.
>Should I buy some spare ones and get some tools so I can fix it myself? My initial thought was that I’m always close to towns where they should have a bike shop, so riding about 20-30kms max would not be that bad, if it’s just one spoke broken.
This seems the best approach if you are not handy with fixing wheels. 20-30km is fine. I have accidently ridden way more than that without noticing a broken spoke before. I did not die in a fiery ball of death as a result. Spokes were replaced and the wheels have been fine.
All of this is part of the adventure. Your trip looks pretty epic. Enjoy!
It happens, especially with weight. By a few extra and a wrench at the local bike store and ask how to replace them. Then go about your merry way!
Redistribution of the weight to get some off the rear might help and you may even notice an improvement in the handling
I’m surprised you didn’t notice the break right away as the wheel gets a wobble immediately. If you had rim brakes you’d get a rub when it happened, at least I have in the past.
If you don’t have a spoke wrench with you it’s a good tool to buy. If you’re between towns with a wobble you can straighten by adjusting spokes adjacent to the broken spoke. You could take spare spokes but in my experience breaks are on the rear drive side requiring the cassette be removed so more tools.
Years back people used an emergency spoke made of a kevlar line that you threaded through rim hole and screwed onto nipple at rim.
Future consideration is to use heavy gauge spokes to reduce the risk of breaks.
You probably got it fixed in time, i’d only bring spokes when going to deserted places.
But what you do want to check is the spoke tension and distribution of the complete wheel, loaded touring needs a bit more attention there. A simple way to check is to squeeze two ‘opposite’ spokes (on the same side) together by hand to find uneven tension. When one spoke break it’s usually a good sign of a bad wheel and other will start to break too, but your milage may vary. Just keep an eye on it.
Not all shops/mechanics know how to properly build/repair a wheel these days. It’s a time-consuming job, both learning and the work itself, so a lot of them will only do a quick fix or suggest to replace the wheel.
You’re overthinking it at this point. Spokes do just break, and while it could be a sign that things are starting to go, and you’ll need a wheel rebuild, it might just be random. Keep an eye on your wheel for the next day or two – if another goes in the next week, that’s a sign you may need a rebuild. For rear wheels, you may find it difficult to fix these yourself even if you have spokes the right size (which will take some doing – some rear wheels have two different sizes of spokes), because you will probably need to remove the cassette to fix a drive side spoke.
If you’re worried, get a fiber fix sent ahead to a town on your route (poste restante or to a hotel or whatever if you know where you’re staying). That will temporarily fix a spoke. Though if you’re only ever 30km from a bike shop you would probably choose to just ride there.
Has your chain ever slipped off your rear cassette and got stuck in the wheel? This can cause serious damage to the spokes that necessarily show itself until you put weight on. Try and take a peek between the cassette and wheel and check for signs of damage. If there is you will likely break some more.
This happened with my gf on tour and she broke 4 spokes one by one over a month that we got replaced.
Definitely shift weight to the front a bit though!
If it wasn’t the last one that broke
Not related to your question, but I have crosso panniers and a marin four corners on the way as my first bike to do some touring. How do you find it so far? Looks like a proper adventure!