Spoke broken in middle - normal?

[Blue Hills]

A spoke on the front wheel of my long-suffering Dahon Speed Pro (or rather it's me that's long suffering) has broken.

20 inch wheel.

It has snapped in the middle.

I thought that if spokes went they tended to go at the nipple or at the point where they hook into the hub.

Is this normal at all?

The wheel MAY have been running ever so slightly out of true for a while (though I was checking it with the tyre on) but having a lot of confidence in this wheel (always seemed far stronger than the back) I let this go as I didn't want to make anything worse.

I stress that it MAY have been and it would have been slight.

If it was out of true it would have been "up and down", not laterally as it has close-fitting V-brake pads and I would have noticed rubbing.

It's definitely laterally out of true now.

I stopped riding the bike as soon as the spoke broke by the way - got a lift back.

 

[PpPete]

Spoke breakage in the middle is rather unusual.
When you replace it, make sure you (or the person doing the job) not only gets the wheel true (axially and radially) but also equalises the spoke tensions as much as possible.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

I had one once on a workhorse bike that got scant attention. maybe a weakess in the metal itself pinged to breaking point like a fuse in a circuit by an out of kilter wheel.

 

[accountantpete]

Check if it went at the point where the spokes cross and touch each other - if under-tensioned they tend to rub against each other and wear away.

 

[e-rider]

the spoke probably picked up a knock (damage) whilst being against another bike/locked up/being transported etc.
most average priced bikes come with painfully crap quality spokes - I've even seen £2000 bikes with budget spokes - why? The cost of using decent spokes would only be about £15 extra per wheel, and we'd all see a whole lot less spoke breakages.

 

[I like Skol]

I had one on my MTB break mid-point last summer and I also wondered why, until I looked carefulkly and found a few gouges along the spoke length. These could have been damage from stones and stuff out on the trail or possibly from the pedal of another bike leaned against mine? Unusual for them to just randomly break in the middle otherwise.