Forum: bicycles.stackexchange.com
Tags: <wheels><repair>
Title: Can I ride home with a broken spoke?
Question: I noticed a wobble in my back wheel while commuting in this morning. Broken spoke. Is this a problem that I should take care of before my 7 mile commute home, or can I pick up a spoke and repair it at home?

Answers:
sents: text: Yes you can ride home with a broken spoke.
text: I'd probably unscrew the spoke from the nipple before doing so, so that it doesn't wobble around and get caught in other bits of the bike.
text: Bike wheels are wonderful things that can easily put up with having a few spokes missing.
answer_details: author: bicycles.stackexchange.com/users/350/deemar
score: 62
sents: text: You can even ride home with several broken spokes ; )
text: It's not exactly great for your wheels
text: but if you take it easy (no jumps!)
text: they'll be fine.
text: I have done this many times without any permanent damage to my wheels.
text: But do take Deemar's advice about unscrewing the spoke.
answer_details: author: bicycles.stackexchange.com/users/568/Dhaust
score: 12
sents: text: I'm doing bicycle touring, and we do end up with broken spokes, with sometimes no place to fix it.
text: I think the longest stretch was 120km in the South of Chile, on bad roads (gravel and dirt) with one and then two broken spokes.
text: Even with the bicycle load (due to the luggage)
text: the wheel handled that, although I've just been straightening it a bit from time to time.
text: So sure, you should be fine on a commuting bicycle with almost no load.
text: Just take care of the bumps on the road (esp.
text: when going on a sidewalk, if it's a shared one) as you might put pressure on the wheel which could bend a bit ==
text: > the wheel could then touch the brakes if you don't have disks ones.
text: But don't wait too long.
text: It's not because it's possible that it doesn't harm the rim to have broken spokes, eventhough
text: I saw bikes in the Netherlands with quite a few broken spokes, still cycling and sometimes with 2 people on it!
text: Crazy Dutch ;-)
answer_details: author: bicycles.stackexchange.com/users/748/Huygens
score: 7
sents: text: I rode a whole summer of commuting with a broken spoke.
text: You'll be alright. :)
answer_details: author: bicycles.stackexchange.com/users/417/dee-see
score: 2
sents: text: While riding with broken spokes is possible, I have started to keep a pair of spare spokes taped down low on the seat tube mostly out of view.
text: I typically only seems break spokes on the rear wheel and then on side away from the gears.
text: So it's a quick fix to pull out the broken spoke and thread in a spare.
text: The wheel is far truer that with the broken spoke.
text: I only need this trick every two years or so
text: and I feel a lot better riding on and then home.
answer_details: author: bicycles.stackexchange.com/users/112/John Dyer
score: 1
sents: text: You should be fine as long as you can secure that broken spoke to the nearest spoke either by twisting it around the good spoke, or securing it with a piece of duct tape or bandaid which all bikers should carry.
text: As long as you're sure it won't get loose and get into the derailleur or brake.
text: You can losen it up to make the twisting job easier, but that usually isn't necessary.
text: Just take it easy on the ride home.
answer_details: author: bicycles.stackexchange.com/users/None/
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
Iy is possible to ride home with more than one broken spoke. The best thing to do is secure the broken spoke to the nearest spoke.
It is possible to ride with one or more broken spokes for an extended period of time without many problems. However, it would be a good idea to keep spare spokes on your bike. You could also try securing the broken spoke by means of twisting it or ducktaping it.