Specialized Epic 29er rear wheel broken spoke

[DLH2014]

I have a epic 29er, I need to replace a broken spoke on the rear wheel. I really want to do it myself(local shop is 2hours away) and want to invest in the proper tools to do so. So my question to is how do I replace the broken spoke(steps) and what speciality tools do I need?

[nfmisso]

A spoke wrench that fits the nipples used is all that is required. You can use your bike frame as a stand.

Personally, with my eye sight, I needed more, so I built a truing stand - listed in the tools section - with a Harbor Freight dial indicator.
http://forums.bikeride.com/thread-3834.html

I follow Sheldon Brown's recommendations on wheel building.

I follow the following rule for broken spokes: replace one because it may be a fluke; when the second one fails, rebuild the wheel with new spokes. Faster cheaper than replacing them one at a time.

[DLH2014]

What about the gear set and disc brake are in the way?

[nfmisso]

(03-18-2014, 06:01 PM)DLH2014 Wrote:  What about the gear set and disc brake are in the way?

You did not mention anything about them, and they were not in the pictures that you posted....

The answer is dependent on what you have - pictures required.

[Painkiller]

what rims do you have? are they tubeless?

[Joe_W]

For the disc you need a Torx key (there's a cheap one in the package that comes with new discs), but I do not know which size. For the cassette you need a cassette tool, get one with a centering "pin", they are easier to use. Should cost about 15$ or so. When removing the disc make sure not to contaminate the surface (and clean it after puting it back together).
Truing stand: I cannot really do without one, though a plastic spoon or somesuch attached to the rear triangle should work as well. Replacing one spoke is actually not that bad, you just need to tighten it until the wheel is round (assuming you have not really abused it after the break). Make sure to "untorsion" the spoke, you will see that it twists as you tighten it.
Spoke key: Spokey (or something similar) that graps all four sides of the nipple (you do not need the ultra-high-tech-bike-shop-variant though, the inexpensive one should do). Costs... another 10$ or so.
(estimated the prices from what I believe I paid in Germany some years ago).