Broken Spoke and Frustrated

I definitely wouldn't ride with a broken spoke--I broke one a couple of years ago and ruined the wheel--I think the rim bent on the same bump that snapped the spoke, but if it hadn't I'm guessing it would have failed soon after.

If it were me and I couldn't find a shop that could do it in less than a week, I'd go ahead and replace the spoke myself, try to get it about the same tension as the other spokes by feel, and then get it into a shop soon to check true and tension.  If you replace it yourself, take care to lace it in the same way the original was if you can.

If you don't want to try it yourself, you might also ask the shop if they could give you a loaner wheel to use while they've got yours--they might have something usable lying around.

Just had to share my 'broken spoke story' from my race report from my fist IM.

I was gonna go ahead and head on up to the swim start area when I had this ‘feeling’ that I needed to go check my bike again.  The previous day I rode my bike down a steep hill by the hotel and my rear brake squealed - no big deal as I figured it had some oil on the rim from my last cleaning.  But when I rode it to the transition area I went down the hill again and it didn’t squeal and I was riding with one hand as I had my transition bags in the other hand and that brake would not stop my bike.  This struck me as odd because, while I usually apply both brakes simultaneously, either brake will stop the bike by itself.  So I wanted to check it out and see if maybe my brake pad was bad – even though I had very recently put new pads on the bike.  I went back to my bike and the brakes looked fine.  I spun the wheel and it went ½ turn and stopped!  It was hitting the frame!  Oh no!  It was out of round.  This was NOT good.  I did not want to try to bike 112 miles with a tire rubbing.  That would be like riding with the brakes on.  I took my bike off the rack and then I saw my two internet buddies, Aaron and Andrew and showed them my wheel.  They told me to take it to the bike tech guys and they could true it up.  When I got the bike tech area no one was there.  I asked someone where they were and they said “they are late….they are supposed to be here.”  They showed up about 10 minutes later and one of the techs started adjusting my spokes to true up the wheel and he found a broken spoke!  My heart raced.  Could they fix it?  No, evidently there was not enough time.  But they had spare wheels.  I have a 12-27 cassette on my rear wheel instead of the typical 12-23 on most triathlon bikes.   The bigger cassette gives me 17% more climbing power and I was gonna need this on the bike.  The tech said they would put my cassette on the loaner wheel.  I watched in horror as he changed the cassette in the grass in very poor lighting!  The new wheel on my bike, I racked my bike and headed to the swim start.  My head was still reeling thinking about finding that broken spoke and I supposed that someone must have been praying for me.

So just be thankful you found it NOW and not on race morning.

BTW, I don't know you but if you are a big guy (like I am),  you might want to look at a heavier rear wheel.  I broke a few spokes on my previous tri bike before I had a heavier wheen made up by my LBS.  My new bike came with heavier spoke and I'v not had a problem.  Just something to think about if you are a big guy.

~Mike