Bicycle Spokes Explained

Bicycle spokes explained. Are you spooked by spokes? How on earth do you know which ones you need? Do terms like bladed and butted leave you baffled? Here at Cycle Maintenance Academy we sort the snowflakes from the compass roses to give you a clear and concise guide to all things spoke related. Find great articles on our blog page here, including bicycle spokes explained: https://www.cyclemaintenanceacademy.com 00:00 - Start 00:07 - Introduction 00:19 - About spokes 00:36 - What is a spoke 01:12 - Spoke types 01:37 - About stainless steel spokes 01:55 - Plain gauge spokes 02:04 - Single butted spokes 02:15 - Double butted spokes 02:28 - Triple butted spokes 02:44 - Bladed spokes 02:57 - Spoke patterns 03:24 - Broken spoke on a wheel - what to do 03:42 - How to measure a spoke length 04:09 - Outro Bicycle Spokes Explained: Bicycle Spokes play a crucial role in a wheel. Because they do such a good job, spokes are often ignored, until, that is, they start failing. This causes the wheel to lose strength and integrity and eventually your bike can become unrideable. What are bicycle spokes? Bicycle spokes are the thin rods that radiate from the hub to the rim. One end is splayed out and that sits in the hole in the hub. The other end has a thread and this attaches to the nipple that passes through the hole in the rim. As the spokes in a wheel are the same length, they keep the hub in the centre of the rim and because they are very tight, they keep the rim round. Each spoke is roughly the same tension (tightness) in any given wheel and that tension is adjusted and fine-tuned by tightening and loosening the nipple at the threaded end of the spoke. The end of the spoke that is attached to the splayed part is either hooked (j-bend spokes) or straight (straight pull spokes).