A customer brought in a
hybrid bike that they'd received from an acquaintance
because the rear wheel was seriously out of true,
and asked me to fix it.
It's a rear wheel set up for rim brakes (V-brakes).
After removing the sprocket and the
spoke protector (that clear plastic disc)
that the customer said they didn't need reinstalled,
I discovered that one spoke
had snapped at the neck.
"Well, you're lucky the spoke broke,"
I told the customer, but what I meant was
"if the spoke hadn't broken
and it was still this out of true,
the rim would be totally warped—like a potato chip—
and we'd need to replace the rim.
Looks like we can get away with just
replacing one spoke, so that's good news."
The hub was a Novatech F172.
I expect I'll be referencing this hub image
in the future, and
that's really what the value of this post is.
The spoke was a size 14 plain spoke with a marking on the spoke head,
but I couldn't tell where it was from.
Of course, the snapped spoke lost its head,
so I'm reading the marking on the spoke
still attached to the hub.
By the way, Sapim spokes don't have markings
on the spoke head—instead
they're stamped on the hub side with
SAPIM or SAP, etc.
That's because Sapim is confident enough that
even if a spoke head breaks off, people will still
recognize it as a Sapim spoke.
The rim was unbranded.
For a hybrid bike with Acera rear derailleur,
the hub is somewhat upscale,
so an unbranded rim feels out of place.
Maybe someone peeled off the sticker.
All fixed.
I also corrected the center misalignment
that was interfering with V-brake adjustment.
↑The replacement spoke
↑Spoke neck break
↑Final cross wear mark
hybrid bike that they'd received from an acquaintance
because the rear wheel was seriously out of true,
and asked me to fix it.
It's a rear wheel set up for rim brakes (V-brakes).
After removing the sprocket and the
spoke protector (that clear plastic disc)
that the customer said they didn't need reinstalled,
I discovered that one spoke
had snapped at the neck.
"Well, you're lucky the spoke broke,"
I told the customer, but what I meant was
"if the spoke hadn't broken
and it was still this out of true,
the rim would be totally warped—like a potato chip—
and we'd need to replace the rim.
Looks like we can get away with just
replacing one spoke, so that's good news."
The hub was a Novatech F172.
I expect I'll be referencing this hub image
in the future, and
that's really what the value of this post is.
The spoke was a size 14 plain spoke with a marking on the spoke head,
but I couldn't tell where it was from.
Of course, the snapped spoke lost its head,
so I'm reading the marking on the spoke
still attached to the hub.
By the way, Sapim spokes don't have markings
on the spoke head—instead
they're stamped on the hub side with
SAPIM or SAP, etc.
That's because Sapim is confident enough that
even if a spoke head breaks off, people will still
recognize it as a Sapim spoke.
The rim was unbranded.
For a hybrid bike with Acera rear derailleur,
the hub is somewhat upscale,
so an unbranded rim feels out of place.
Maybe someone peeled off the sticker.
All fixed.
I also corrected the center misalignment
that was interfering with V-brake adjustment.
↑The replacement spoke
↑Spoke neck break
↑Final cross wear mark