DIYbanter - View Single Post - Kids bike rear wheel spoke issues

Mr UPVC

"Mr UPVC" Mr lid wrote in message
...

"Jim K" wrote in message
...
Rear 12" wheel lost a spoke somehow and the rest are variously loose,
bent etc. Wheel wobbles side to side quite badly but they still manage
to ride it! good practice for something!!

So is it worth messing to fix it and how? or can you e.g. buy a
replacement for a £reasonable amount?

Bike is a Raleigh bought new -- can't say I'm impressed.....I reckon
it's only done 2 or 3 miles ever

Cheers
Jim K

I'm not sure if any bike shop would stock ready-made spokes in that
length,
but smaller more traditional bike shops should be able to cut down longer
spokes (which they will stock) and tap a suitable thread onto them.
Out-of-the-box spokes cost less than a pound.

From my (not always successful) experience of re-spoking and trueing on
adult bike wheels, if replacing and tensioning the broken spoke makes the
wheel reasonably true, then that's probably good place to stop. Trueing
wheels has always seemed to be a bit of black art to me, so I prefer to
adjust as few spokes as possible.

You'll also need:
- a spoke key (the "deep" type machined from a block of steel are less
likely to round-off the spoke nipple than the type stamped from sheet
steel).
- If the broken spoke is on the freewheel side, you will need some kind of
freewheel remover tool. Adult bikes have a range of freewheel fixing
systems, not sure about childrens bikes.