Broken Spoke - ride home or take the train?

[Sittingduck]

Hmmm

Glad you got back without further pain to the wheel Spokes and wheels are a bit of a dark art, something I am learning myself at the moment. This in on account of breaking rather too many spokes myself

 

[stuarttunstall]

I did hear on the way back home this morning a slight "twang" now being a little large for the bike at the moment I stopped and checked all the spokes, but they all seemed fine, nothing broken or loose so maybe one just moved next to the other where they cross over... I HOPE... I did check again at home and they all looked and felt OK, nothing loose or seemed broken and all seemed to be in the rim OK...

Any ideas what it may have been? not been on a bike for 35 years and collected the bike a week ago... only heard it once and it rode OK the remaining couple of miles home with no further noise

 

[alicat]

Dunno, just keep an eye on it and only worry if it happens a few times more.

 

[stuarttunstall]

Dunno, just keep an eye on it and only worry if it happens a few times more.

In one of my other posts someone suggested something off the road hitting the spokes, which on the lanes I use is possible, they are used by farm vehicles mostly so lots of dust and stones on the road along with ruts and potholes so speed is a "no-no" so maybe that is what I heard, will keep an eye on things

 

[alicat]

Yes, could be that. Noises on bikes are quite usual. I have got used to worrying only when
they are impeding my immediate progress.

 

[Vantage]

Being factory built wheels (I guess) the spokes won't have been 'bedded in'. Where they cross each other they can slip a little to settle in.
That's more than likely what you heard. Not unusual and nothing to worry about.

 

[stuarttunstall]

Being factory built wheels (I guess) the spokes won't have been 'bedded in'. Where they cross each other they can slip a little to settle in.
That's more than likely what you heard. Not unusual and nothing to worry about.

That is what I thought, the one's that cross do seem close... will see how it goes, I can take it in after a month to 6 weeks to the shop and hey will give it a check over and adjust anything that needs doing...

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Why take the risk, if the train is direct and accessible?

A DIY-maintained bike will cost around 1-2 pence a mile to run in terms of wear & tear. A train ticket can end up costing as much per mile as getting a minicab. I would always continue to ride any bike that was still physically capable of forward motion, and sort out whatever was wrong with it later. One of the reasons I refuse to go down the road of owning flimsy plastic bikes with hardly any spokes in the wheels is that they don't have much in-built redundancy. All my bikes have 36 spoke rims, and if one breaks whilst out on a ride, I'm not going to do anything apart from remove or bend the broken bit so it can't jam in the frame. It wouldn't stop me continuing my journey.
i know people who have ridden bikes that had a missing spoke when they got it secondhand, and made no attempt whatsoever to replace it, just carried on using the bike for ages with only 35 spokes!

 

[si_c]

Glad you got back comfortably, but for the avoidance of doubt it would have been perfectly safe to ride back on that wheel, especially if care is taken to avoid potholes. Just loosen off the back brake a tad and that's it.

If you were riding a stupid low spoke count wheel then the situation might be different. I'd also be cautious about a front wheel, but would still have ridden it.

Keep an eye on the other spokes, if they start to go then a rebuild is probably worthwhile.

 

[irw]

Glad you got back comfortably, but for the avoidance of doubt it would have been perfectly safe to ride back on that wheel, especially if care is taken to avoid potholes. Just loosen off the back brake a tad and that's it.

If you were riding a stupid low spoke count wheel then the situation might be different. I'd also be cautious about a front wheel, but would still have ridden it.

Keep an eye on the other spokes, if they start to go then a rebuild is probably worthwhile.

Ahem- you do realise that the OP that it appears your reply is aimed at was 7 years ago...?

 

[si_c]

Ahem- you do realise that the OP that it appears your reply is aimed at was 7 years ago...?

Ha! I didn't even read the dates on this!

 

[andrew_s]

I did hear on the way back home this morning a slight "twang"...
Any ideas what it may have been? not been on a bike for 35 years and collected the bike a week ago...

It would have been a spoke untwisting - when the spokes are tight, and the nipple is turned during truing, it tends to twist the spoke round with it rather than the nipple turning on the spoke threads. Then, when you ride, the spoke goes a little slacker as it passes round the bottom of the wheel, and the friction between nipple and wheel rim is no longer enough to stop the spoke untwisting, which it does, with associated twanging noise.
Sometimes normal riding is enough and you get a fair few twanging noises for the first 50 yards, sometimes the spokes are tighter and it doesn't happen until you hit a pothole, or add a bit of sideways push by getting out of the saddle and honking.

A good wheelbuilder will untwist the spokes as part of the build process, usually by lying the wheel down flat and pushing down on opposite sides of the rim. They should also stress relieve the wheel by squeezing pairs of spokes together hard (gloves usually required), which fends off broken spokes later in the wheel's life.
However, with the factory wheels on new bikes, this often doesn't happen.

It's usually a good idea to work out what a noise is caused by before you start ignoring it. Sometimes a noise can be the warning before the failure that causes a nasty crash, such as creaks before a handlebar breaking.

 

[User16625]

I have done both in the past. The fisrt time I made it home without any issues however the other time as I was heading down a hill I heard a "twang twang twang" and came to a very abrubt unplanned stop and altracation with a hedge.

If you do try and risk it, ride slowly.

Actually its far better to go like ****. At high speeds, the weight on the weak section of wheel is applied for less amount of time.

Just talkin bollux there. What 4F said is right.