Good Use for Broken Spokes
January 24th, 2008 by Jeff MoserWhen replacing your next broken spoke, throw the broken one in your tool box instead of the trash can. I’ve found that a broken spoke can be handy to clean some of the hard to get to spots on my bike. The long, thin, and flexible qualities of a spoke make it the perfect instrument for cleaning the narrow space between cassette cogs, the tight space between cranks and the bottom bracket, and the hard to get to spots around your chain ring bolts. These hard to reach places are usually the site of dirt and grease buildup. The spoke also makes a good compliment to other cleaning items; for example, you can loosen up the gunk with the spoke, and then easily wipe it away with a brush or rag.
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After you cut cable housing, use a sharpened broken spoke to open up the end that got a little crushed when you cut it.
Or jam it into your tubeless tire to see if there is enough Stan’s sealant left to fill a big hole.
(not recommended unless they’re old tires you were going to throw away anyway…)
Use as a pick to remove dust caps or rubber seals from hubs.
clean your one hitter of built up resin
I’m not sure what the comment above mine means
I have another one (can ya post pictures here?or links? anyway, ASCII art below). Bend each end so it looks sorta like this:
(_________)
Use it to hold yer chain as you fumble with your chain tool.
Cool! Some great ideas I hadn’t thought of!
in 10 yrs of riding on and off road, I have never broken a spoke. However, I have seen the cable housing trick done. they all sound interesting/useful.
One time while climbing a rocky hill, a rock flipped up into my wheel, getting stuck between the frame and the spokes. It took out 6 spokes before the damage was complete! I clipped the broken spokes off with the wire cutters on my multi tool, and was actually able to ride the 3 miles back to work. The back wheel was wobbly like a clown bike, but it got me back!
these are awesome ideas. here’s one (with more ASCII art)
-[]——
^^^^
it can hold your marshmallows while you roast them.
I think that guy from survivor man used his spokes to make a spear for hunting on one episode. I think he also used the spokes as skewers to roast bugs over his fire. Tasty
When inserting a new seat post I apply a liberal amount of grease at the top of the seat tube and use a circular motion with a spoke to work it’s way down the tube.
I just remembered another one…
To remove grips, I dip a spoke in rubbing alcohol, slide the spoke under the grip, twist a little bit, and the grip comes right off!
Jeff Moser-
I have tried that but found the spoke goes through the grip. I use small multi-tool hex (& lube).
A classic use for old spokes is building wheels with deep or V section rims. Thread the spoke a couple of turns into the slotted end of the spoke, insert into the rim from the rimstrip side, and as you thread the nipple onto the new spoke it unscrews the old spoke. Keeps me from cursing and losing nipples to the floor or inside the rim.
And I feel really old school for mentioning this, but a lot of the previous suggestions for using old spokes can also be done by an icepick-I use the one I got from my Grampa.
Yeah, I have my dear departed dad’s awl and that wil work, but not everybody gets tools as an inheritance.
Use it to stab the motorist who cut me off this morning.