Missing Spoke on Rear Wheel, Big Deal or Not?

[MagillaXLH]

(1980 Ironhead sportster, stock rear & height)
Recently realized I was missing a rear wheel spoke and have no idea when it threw. Im sure its not a huge deal but I weigh 230# and ride with my 175# girlfriend on the back and was wondering if it was an going to wind up killing us. ALSO, I get a bit of a wobble over 60MPH, any possibly related?

Thanks!

Magilla

[surfbum]

yes probably related. No way i would ride that. Fix that shit an dont die

[purerockfury]

yes probably related. No way i would ride that. Fix that shit an dont die

+1

[desertrat]

you should most definitely get that replaced.

[brach77]

your wheel is no longer true. get that shit fixed quickly.

[MagillaXLH]

I really appreciate the input fellas, I guess I better bite the bullet before I eat street is the general consensus...

Thanks again.

Magilla

[SleezyRider]

psssht you guys are just worry warts...I'm sure it's fine
no seriously tho, fix this

[KackAttack]

might want to see about getting a whole wheel, used.. the cost of lacing and truing.. around here is 150-250... just a heads up.

[Guest]

My thoughts are... One Spoke, I'd ride it very carefully but

1. Are the Others Loose?
2. Where did it break? (Look at your nipple)
3. Are You Sure, it wasn't already missing?
4. If one broke there's79 other ones that could be right behind that one!

Trying to put 1 spoke in is Normally about Impossible. So how did it come out unless it broke at the 90 where it goes in the hub.

I laced my first wheel for a 1974 Yamahog XS-650 at about 17 years old. I did it before the Internet (with no help). I somewhat enjoy doing a wheel. I am 100% sure there's some good videos on how to do it. You don't need any special tools and can do it on the bike. (A small wrench for the spokes and a couple pieces of small rods (welding) to use as a gauge and Tape. (Tape the rods to the frame as gauges.)

[ThePete]

I'm no motorcycle wheel building guru but I used to run a bicycle shop and was a the master mechanic so I do know a thing or two about bicycle wheels. This being said if it were a bicycle wheel this is what I would say:

You can retrue a wheel missing a spoke but to do so you're going to have to over tension the spokes on either side of the missing/broken one on the same side (L/R) of the rim, then you'll have to losen the ones on either side of the missing/broken on the opposite side to get the rim to be straight, then after that you'd have to check the dish (L/R alignment of rim to axle) and also look how out of round (relationship of axle to center of wheel) the rim is. Once thats done make adjustments all over the place to get everythimg to line back up properly. Its a huge hassle and its only something I'd do to get myself home to replace the missing/broken spoke.

Consider the structural dynamics of a spoked wheel, each spoke not only puts tension on the hub and rim in such a manor as to support the hung weight of the bike and rider (spoked wheels hold hung weight like a rope not supportive like a support beam) along with the stress of side loading forces (turning/leaning) and the torque/power applied to cause forward motion. The wheel is esentially missing a structural load bearing support and to take up the slack every aspect of the wheel is put into question and it may still fail with little to no notice under the right type of load at the wrong time on a bicycle, take that and multiply this failure in motorcycle terms (doing 70 into a corner) and think of the outcome. FUCK THAT SHIT! With all the hassles involved in making a rim marginally less safe with a missing spoke I'd rather replace the damn thing and know I've got a solid wheel.

My next question is how long has this been going on for and what has it done to the rest of the wheel componants structurally? Are they comprimised? Do you want to chance it?

[vnygra]

might want to see about getting a whole wheel, used.. the cost of lacing and truing.. around here is 150-250... just a heads up.

You can do it yourself. Only problem is finding a place to buy ONLY one spoke. Most are in sets of 40

[ThePete]

You can do it yourself. Only problem is finding a place to buy ONLY one spoke. Most are in sets of 40

Again think of the stress the remaining spokes may be undergoing and for how long... if 1 failed which one is the next one.

I nickle and dimed a high performance wheel set on my mountain bike with these fancy bladed spokes (I didn't build this set) I'd break one about every couple of hard off road rides. After the 5th or 6th spoke broke I'd had enough, broke out the dikes cut all the spokes out and started over with good old fashioned regular round spokes... guess what, I'm still running that wheel set on the bike 5 years later with no broken spokes.

Go for all 40 screw messing around with each one individually.

[MagillaXLH]

It was missing when I bought the bike, just never noticed it. There are weights on the spokes on either side of the one that's broke. Its broke off at the nip so I'm going to just replace the one, pain in the ass I know....