I hate to post something so basic here by starting a new thread, but my searches haven’t turned up much…
Broke a spoke on my 24 Nimbus. Things seem fine, but I wonder if riding with just one broken spoke is that much of an emergency requiring me to park it until repair. Not having replaced one…I called a local bike shop and he’s telling me it’s a whole different thing with a uni compared to a bike because the axle doesn’t spin on a bike. Admittedly, he didn’t sound too experienced with unicycles — they do have spokes I can buy, however.
I have a spoke wrench… maybe some online repair videos is my next step. Any insights is appreciated.
unicycle spokes are the EXACT same as bicycle spokes. You just need to get the spoke length. Installing a single new spoke is no big deal. Sometimes you can do it without even removing the tire. On a 24" wheel with 36 spokes, it’s not an emergency, becuase the Nimbus 24 is a VERY stout wheel, but if you keep riding it eventually more will break, and the wheel will go out of true, causing more permanent damage to parts. You can use the unicycle.com spoke calculator to find your spoke length. Make sure your spoke wrench matches the nipples on your wheel. I believe all you’d need is a 14 guage straight spoke. I don’t think the unicycle.com basic spokes are butted. That should make it easy for any basic shop to cut it and thread it to the right length.
I tend to have FiberFix spokes around too. They are good if you tour, and will get your wheel running again without worrying about damaging it more: https://www.amazon.com/FiberFix-Emergency-Spoke-Replacement-Kit/dp/B001GSMQZC Read the directions though! These are stronger than actual spokes and can damage your wheel if you over-tighten them.
In any case, some shops have them, and they install in a minute or so while you wait for a new spoke.
I’m surprised the shop would say they are different. The axle makes no difference whatsoever. You don’t even have a dished wheel.
If you install a spoke yourself, just watch a few videos. You need to bring it up to the same tension as the rest of the spokes. It’s also good practice to “stress relieve” the spoke by taking a wrench or something like it and sticking it between 2 crossing spokes and flexing them. You want to flex the new spoke so it is seated into place and sort of “wraps around” the other spoke that it’s crossing so that you can’t see a bow in the new spoke, and everything is lined up. If you pluck a few spokes around the one your installing, you want to match pitch, assuming they are similar brand/steel/width spokes.
It makes a difference because you can’t pop the wheel in a normal truing stand, which makes it problematic for a normal bike shop to fix - I presume that’s the point he’s making.
Things seem fine, but I wonder if riding with just one broken spoke is that much of an emergency requiring me to park it until repair. Not having replaced one…I called a local bike shop and he’s telling me it’s a whole different thing with a uni compared to a bike because the axle doesn’t spin on a bike. Admittedly, he didn’t sound too experienced with unicycles — they do have spokes I can buy, however.