Is replacing the spokes on bike wheels something you can learn to do yourself?
I'm a heavy guy and regularly have spokes break on my back wheel. Getting a bicycle repair guy to fix it is a pain in the ass and kind of pricey. Ideally I would like to have a couple of spokes lying around so I could fix the wheel myself.
I'm not a complete idiot with tools but I'm still very much an amateur. Can I learn to do it myself?
If spokes are breaking regularly, whoever is fixing your wheel is a hack or your wheel is done for. Most likely, your spokes have too much tension or the tension is severely misbalanced. You can pluck the spokes that originate from the same side flange and they should have the same tone. Think like a guitar string. The more you tighten the string the more higher pitch the string will sound. If spokes are too far off in tone from one another they break as force moves through the wheel as that force isn't distributed evenly. Too high of a tone and your wheel is too tight, this leads to premature fatigue. There is a balance. A tensiometer helps this process but they are an expensive.
I always recommend to Clydesdales that they should run a higher spoke count out back with a thicker gauge spoke. In the long run a solid wheel will be cheaper once you factor in downtime. You can swap over the gears, tires, brake rotor if applicable, and skewers. Summer is coming and bike shop service lead time is only going to take longer. You can get a solid wheel for $250, your local bike shop should be able to get one in.
I build 4k+ wheels per year at one of the most fanciest wheel manufactures in amerikkka. I've been building wheels my entire life as BMX killed them often. Yes I registered for just this post. Good luck.
If you do want to fix it yourself, it's kind of a steep learning curve if you don't have someone there to hold your hand your first couple of times, bring in a six pack of beer to your local bike shop and ask if they can show you the basics, I always loved doing that when I worked a shop. YouTube can teach you a lot, but since it sounds like you're rough on wheels, I recommend prebuilt ready to run for the least hassle. If you've got time to learn, I recommend going to a thrift store, getting a really cheap wheel, and take it apart and put it back together a couple of times, paying attention to what spokes go where. Again, super steep learning curve, but you can mess it up as you don't need this wheel to get by.
I can get a grandma from zero knowledge to pro in about 80 hours. I wish I was joking but my areas disenfranchised population wants to work in this factory for the benefits and chill atmosphere that comes with a bicycle company.
I do hate these fucking dentists I build wheels for. Don't get me started about triathletes. But holy fuck do I love bicycles. I'm grateful for them being a healthy outlet for my rough childhood.
It's a bitch to do but not like...particularly hard. Just finnicky for the most part.
I'm with nat_turner_overdrive here though, feels like a matter of time before one of the spokes rips out the socket on the rim and then it's pretty much done for. Alternatively, maybe wider tyres are an option to cushion the blows a bit? Could even do only the back wheel and get style points for ridin' a mullet
Also, have you got it trued? If some of the spokes lost too much tension it's gonna put more stress on other spokes and so on. You can even do a basic check by yourself, just grab two spokes at once and try to bend them. If some of them feel more bendy than others, maybe getting the thing whole thing into proper tension might alleviate your issues.
The bicycle repair guy trues it when he fixes it. How can I learn to true it myself?
And how do I know what spokes to buy?
Learning is basically trial and error with a guide. As for what spokes you want it's impossible to tell from afar, but there's quite a bit to look out for. Diameter, how it affixes to the hub, how many can be affixed to the hub, material, etc.
Seeing as I hate dealing with building wheels other than retightenig the occasional spoke, I'll point you towards the god of tinkering with bicycles, Sheldown Brown.. Some of the info is probably a bit out of date, but the general gist is there.
If you think this is a bit long, and I do think this, it might just not be for you. I think building or fixing wheels is the type of stuff where you look onto this mess of math and physics and either think this was made for me to nerd out or this sucks and I'll hate it. A new wheel honestly isn't that expensive, especially when you factor in how much time and material you're probably going to need learning it.
EDIT: This is under the assumption you have a rear derailleur and not internal gearing. Allthough in the later case I'd advise you to flog that one and buy a better one. The cheapest way to new wheels is usually to scout local used bike listings for something that'd fit and buy a whole bike, strip it for parts and use the wheels really.
Yes, and you can do it without a truing stand although it will take a little bit longer. You need spoke wrenches, probably no need for spoke torque wrenches. If you break spokes a lot though it might be worth it to get a beefier rear wheel with more spokes than whatever you've got, and then you wouldn't have to worry about it.
Wouldn't a beefier wheel mean that I would have to replace the thingy in the middle with the gears and stuff? Is there a cheap way of doing it?
Yeah, you would need a new hub if you want to increase spoke count. Cost to replace is going to depend on what your current hub is. I've been away from bicycling for a while now but I often found good deals on used parts at local swap meets, ebay, craigslist, etc. The only wheelset I ever built myself was on new old stock 7 spd shimano hubs.
its a pain in the ass soo what i do is usualy lace them up and take it to abike shop to true it up
