26 1 3/4 Spokes

[NotSoProCyclist]

I just Picked up a CCM Sunsport with 26 1 3/4 wheels with a few broken spokes. I'm new to bike repair and cant quite figure out which size of spoke I should replace them with. Any help would be very appreciated!

[Painkiller]

remove a good spoke and take to bike shop and they can measure for you. Your front wheel spokes should be the same on each side, the rear may be different on the drive and non drive side. Since you were vague as to which ones were broke,keep that in mind and mark them with tape as to front, rear, and side they came off.

[NotSoProCyclist]

(03-10-2013, 07:37 PM)painkiller Wrote:  remove a good spoke and take to bike shop and they can measure for you. Your front wheel spokes should be the same on each side, the rear may be different on the drive and non drive side. Since you were vague as to which ones were broke,keep that in mind and mark them with tape as to front, rear, and side they came off.

Both are actually broken, and I'm looking to figure it out myself. A reference guide I found online mentioned high and low flange with a three or four cross for the wheel but I dont know how to figure which one I have.

[Painkiller]

It sounds like you have a bad built set of wheels or wheel, they are like shoe strings in this case as in the others are going to break when you least expect it. I would recommend a new set as building them may be beyond your scope of expertise, lack of proper tools and so on.
But for now if you want to replace what is broke, just do what I said above and follow the lace pattern you have already, cross 3,4, or whatever is not the concern at hand. just the proper spoke. If you do not have a spoke gauge let the lbs measure and order what you need. If you have broken spoke on the rear drive side then you will need proper tools to remove your freewheel/cassette. and to finish you need a truing stand and proper spoke wrench, all of which equals extra $$$$ you may not want spend

[NotSoProCyclist]

Oh! I have access to all the proper tools and removing the rear tire is no issue. The tire is fine I believe, just a few broken spokes I assume are from poor handling rather then a bad tire, as the bike is over 30 years old. I just don't want to order the wrong spokes as they are an unusual size.

[Painkiller]

order this
http://www.parktool.com/product/spoke-bearing-and-cotter-gauge-sbc-1

[DaveM]

To measure a spoke without a gauge, you should measure one that is not broken, from the same wheel (and same side on the rear wheel). Measure from the inner side of the hook at the hub end (the inside of the little flat hook where it bends 90 deg.) to the end of the threads in mm. You need ot be accurate within a few mm. You also need to know the thickness of the spoke. 2.0mm is 14 gauge, 1.8 mm is 15 gauge. It is not critical to replace with the same gauge as the old one (though it is better). But if you get the wrong gauge, the old spoke nipple won't work. So if you're not sure, order spokes and nipples.

Painkiller's point about the wheel is that if several spokes have broken, the whole wheel probably isn't built and adjusted (tensioned) correctly and you may keep getting more broken spokes. Someone who's good at truing can correct this. No reason you can't replace these spokes and true up the wheel. Just be aware that truing and tensioning are fairly subtle. read up...

[nfmisso]

If you are close to one of us, PM us, and bring it over.

Measuring spokes can be done with a ruler.

As PK noted; you probably need to replace all of the spokes. You can do this one at a time so as to not start from scratch. I did that once, and then decided that it was easiest to do a proper build starting from just the rim and hub.