Does Respoking Require Wheel Removal?

xyster

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A spoke broke on my rear hubmotor at the point of connection to the hub. The nipple connector thingie to the wheel looks OK.

Still knowing little of such things, I'm wondering if (as it appears to me) it can be re-spoked without removing the wheel?
 
Any bike shop can respoke it. If one broke others are probably ready to go. The spokes are probably aluminium(NOT a good sign). The bike shop will probably replace them with stainless steel.
 
Hello Xyster

Yes the would normally remove the wheel, technically you could do it by sliding the tyre off to the side, but most bike shops would replace the spoke in a jig and quickly true the wheel and check the spoke tension.

Is it a problem to take the wheel out? I made my bike so the batteries can be released quickly, my old wheel when it started to wear would break a spoke every month or so, I got it down to a fine art and could get one changed and the wheel trued in 30 mins start to finish.

My new wheel is much stronger and is double walled, I have had no problems so far. I would take your wheel out.

All the best

Knoxie
 
knoxie said:
My new wheel is much stronger and is double walled, I have had no problems so far. I would take your wheel out.

All the best

Knoxie

Yeah, double wall is the key I think. I had the local bike shop build my front wheel with the "motor in mind". They used a double wall 700C and steel spokes. Been using it since 2004 and nothing has broken yet. A testament to the durability of good steel.
 
The wheel is double wall. The nipple is still in place so I thought I might be able to slide a new spoke up through the hub, bend it a little and screw on the nipple. Removing the wheel requires taking off the back rack (no big deal), and cutting the little hall sensor wires I worked quite a while to solder together (there's no hall sensor connectors), taking off the tire and the super-thick tube that was very difficult to mount.
 
It can be done. Be careful because the bending can damage the spoke so badly that it's not usable. Maybe buy a few spares if you try the first one and it gets too messed up.

It's smarter to take off the wheel because you need to true it up anyway... (and it's just easier to work on)
 
I think you can get the new spoke into the wheel without removal. You will have to bend the spoke quite a bit. That is ok in my opinion. I think you should let the air out of the tire when you tighten the nipple. This will prevent the rim strip from getting all bunched up on top of the nipple. During my time working as a bicycle mechanic in a shop that services electrics I noticed that electric bikes and scooters with spoked wheels brake spokes and wheel parts all the time. I made the mistake of leaving a nipple in a wheel with no spoke connected. The customer decided he did not want to pay to have a new spoke installed on his EV Global E-bike front wheel since the bike had a front disc brake and the out of true front wheel would not effect braking. I only removed the broken spoke with the wheel installed. A few days later his front tire blew and he had a minor crash. Luckily he did not sue me.
 
Thank you, all. I've taped in place the spoke for now specifically so that it holds the nipple in it's normal position until I can buy new spokes. Also on this note, I received a very helpful email from Joshua at ebikes.ca I'd like to share a portion of (he's let me know before it's ok to post the salient portions of his replies).

(about crystalyte spoke sets)
They're coming from the exact same source, ie. Crystalyte's cheap spoke manufacturer. For most users these hold up OK, but even some average weight setups that see plain road use on a very regular basis have had spoke failures. Whenever we deal with someone who is heavy (>250 lb) or has other circumstances that would put more than average stress on the spokes we usually get the wheels rebuilt at a bike store. They use standard 14 gauge and have never failed so far, while the 12 and 13 gauge crystalyte spokes have a very spotty track record.

(about best metal)
Well usually the choice is between steel or stainless. We only did about half a dozen motors with steel spokes and didn't have one break, but since converting to stainless this has frequently been a bit of a headache. The general wisdom is that stainless steel is stronger, but I think it has a lot to do with the particular metallurgy and QC where they are fabricated.

there is almost always one or two bike stores in any town that have a spoke threading machine and can make a few at the right length for like $1.00 each. The gauge doesn't matter so much as the quality. I'm presuming this spoke broke right at the bend where it enters the flange? If the bend has too large a radius and doesn't sit tight, then it flexes and eventually fatigue fails right at this point. Some people have had success putting small washers just behind the spoke head so that there is less slop.
 
Minor correction on the contact.. Ebikes.ca = Justin ... Evsolutions.net = Joshua

The whole Rim/Spoke thing is going to be a challenge in my near future...

I looked at a Phil Wood spoke machine to make my own . = 5000 $ US gulp..

So i will stock the 12 gauge spokes from china for the time being, The motors i have on hand now use the 12 gauge and hold up well.. mind you they have not been " Fully " tested yet..

The dual speed on my Norco has 14 gauge Stainless spokes and it also holds up great.. and has been tested.. HARD.. was laced up by a local bike shop owner who did a great job..
 
I bought my Crystalyte 5304 (AKA 504) "bare" and had a local bike shop lace it for a 26" wheel. I specifically asked for a double-wall rim and the beefiest spokes they could fit. I asked for triple-cross, but they came back and said that couldn't be done on 26", so they did double-cross instead. It cost me $115.

I've checked the spokes occassionally (probably not as often as I should though) and I've had no problems so far.
 
you can do triple cross spokes in a 26" but the first cross is very close to the hub. with the larger diameter motor as the hub there would not be room for the spokes to cross 3x.
 
Received my new crystalyte 13g spokes and a spoke wrench from the poweridestore today. I changed two without removing the wheel. Required needle nose pliers, the spoke wrench, and bending the spoke quite a bit. I re-used the original nipple.

I hope by bending the spoke in the middle (thus cold-forming it into a new bent shape that was straightened during installation, but still has the bend "memory") that I didn't compromise the wheel or spoke's integrity.

Anybody?
Anybody?
Bueller?
Bueller?
 
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