Broken spoke. Where to buy?

Hi all

I've got a China 1000watt rear hub motor and I've broken a spoke. I think due to them being a little loose and me not checking.

It's 12gauge (2.6mm) and 154mm.

Im having a hell of a time trying to find a replacement. LBS's are having a hard time finding a local (even interstate) supplier.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm located in Australia and would prefer something sourced reasonably locally as I don't like riding with a broken spoke and it's my commuter!

Ebay has them from China. But they're +3 weeks away!!

Cheers,
Hunt

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So what continent are you on? In north America, I don't know anybody stocking that particular size. Grin Technology in Canada can make you custom size spokes.

But buy a set cheap from china might be your best bet. You might need a lot more spokes if you ride hard, and have already strained all your spokes by not keeping then snug.

Replace all of them with 13/14 butted spokes (if the LBS can't cut them for you, get the Sapim ones from Grin Tech http://ebikes.ca ) --trust me you'll have a much stronger wheel when you're done, cuz 12g are usually too big for the rim strength.

With thicker spokes, tension has to be higher, so the rim deforms and the spokes get loose. Retighten the spokes and the rim deforms more or cracks, and the spokes get loose. Repeat ad-nauseum.

Use the right gauge spokes for the rim, and all those problems go away if the wheel is tensioned correctly when built. (assuming the rim isn't already damaged from the previous spokes' tension).

14/15 butted is probably strong enough for a typical bike. I've been using 13/14 butted short radial spokes on my trike for quite a while now with hundreds of pounds of load and bad roads and lots of sideloading and still havent' broken any. So thinner would likely work perfectly fine for you.

A good quality 12g replacement spoke isn't going to be the same as the cheap spokes commonly found on generic ebike wheels, so it will perform different that the ones you have. that will make trying to keep the spokes tight and true an issue, and will eventually cause other spokes to break.

Unless you can get a matching brand spoke, plan on eventually needing to re-lace the whole wheel.

And with that in mind, it's fine to use another size spoke. if all you can get locally is a 14G, it's better than nothing. There is no point trying to match the gauge if you can't match the quality (or lack of).

In Perth carine cycles have repaired my spokes- most recently cutting one down to size. Maybe try a different lbs?

Good advice to replace all the spokes, if not right away, eventually, with better ones. That's why I said just get a set.

He's got an odd length spoke though, so he's not running the same rim and spoke sizes typical with USA kit sellers that have a saipam spoke, such as E bikekit.

Part of why I asked what continent. But Grin can ship anywhere, though if it goes through customs, that slows it down. Three weeks wait is not so bad, if its going a long trip.

I have been using Holmes Hobbies online to slowly replace all of the drive-side spokes on my cheap Chinese built motor hub wheel. Interesting to hear that not having matching spokes exacerbates it. I think I only have a couple of the originals left on the driveside so just waiting for those to go out. Very few have broken on the left side.

So anyways, Holmes Hobbies has been my source. I buy a bunch at a time and some extra nipples. None of them have broken yet. They might actually be Sapim, I would have to check.

I considered eBay but I figure I'd just be replacing cheap Chinese spokes with more cheap Chinese spokes. No thank you.

I went to a local bike shop, they cut and rolled new threads for $1 a spoke. They had 12 g spokes no problem. I bought several at a time as I have broken at least 6 spokes in 2 years, one at a time. I like to have spares. Those cheap Chinese spokes!