Spokes - how important

[Paul_E_D]

I found that I have a missing spoke on my rear tire. How easy are they to replace? How important is it that I replace it before I ride again?

[a13x]

I'd say if the rest are tight you should be fine until you get replaced. I raced Downhill many times with a busted spoke. Just get fixed sooner than later. Don't hit any huge doubles either

[legalspeed]

If you won a championship like that, I'd take some more out!!

Just kidding, don't do what I say....

[Paul_E_D]

Lol, I'm far from winning anything on my dirtbike!

[KB]

Easy to replace Paul. Finding a shop that ctually has the spoke and nipple is going to the tough part. It's pretty tit to replace. Just don't tighten it a fuckload. You want to get it as close as the others as you can. Usually when a spoke breaks it's a sign the wheel is on it's way out. It may be worth it to find an ebay'r and keep yours as a spare.

KB

[airgary]

or your chain is too tight when the suspension compresses and it tweaks the wheel

[Paul_E_D]

Chain is super loose, and now a bit stretched. I might get a new one tomorrow...

[Paul_E_D]

Originally posted by rmbbikes
Easy to replace Paul. Finding a shop that ctually has the spoke and nipple is going to the tough part. It's pretty tit to replace. Just don't tighten it a fuckload. You want to get it as close as the others as you can. Usually when a spoke breaks it's a sign the wheel is on it's way out. It may be worth it to find an ebay'r and keep yours as a spare.

KB

Can you just lace up an excel rim to the stock hub? What part of teh wheel do you think is "going"? The rim itself?

[KB]

Yes the rim. It gets out of round if you will. If a rim is tweaked then trued up to get it back to straight. The forces sometimes to get the rim straight stres's the spokes. Then you take it out hammer it and snap a spoke or two. This is escpecially true if the person b4 you did the truing himself and didn't know what they were doing.

The way you true a rim is to loosen spokes on the opposite side of the out spot and tighten the other side to pull the rim over and straight. So looking at the back of your bike if you notice the rim is tweaked to the left. You loosen the left side spokes and tighten the right pulling the rim back straight

But to answer your question yes you can order a new excel hoop and spokes and have it laced up to your new rim.

Hope this made sense. Building and truing wheels is an art form.

KB