Spoke help!

[Da Doofus]

ok, maybe not unicycling, and maybe not in the right forum, but help would be appreciated anyway--

On my roadbike I have velomax circuit rims/hubs, which recently took some spoke damage. I have a new spoke and all the right tools, but I can't get it out of the hub. (threads in, the spoke doesnt slide in like on most).

does anyone on here know how to take the spokes out?

[sigve]

go to your local bike store, they'll fix it

[Da Doofus]

my LBS said they could fix it, but it would cost a lot of money/take a lot of time, so I opted to do it myself (which apparently was harder then i thought...)

[rob.northcott]

Presumably you've already seen the manual, but just in case try here. Should tell you how you're supposed to remove spokes, but won't help if the problem is just that it's stuck. If it's stuck all I'd suggest is soak the thread for a few hours in some penetrating oil like PlusGas or even WD40, then finding something to grip the spoke really tightly (like a mole wrench, if they're called the same in America). If it's a stainless steel spoke into an aluminium hub then it could well be nice and stuck - those two metals are notorious for electrolytic corrosion problems when put tightly together (that's why rims tend to get all manky round the stainless eyelets however well you clean them).

I've never worked on anything like that myself - I prefer traditionally built wheels. My father-in-law has had all sorts of problems with fancy boutique wheels and looks like he's going to go back to proper hubs and spokes again. His aren't velomax though - some sort of bizarre slotted fitting with blade spokes. Never worth the hassle IMO for a bike that's used rather than just looked at.

Rob

[Da Doofus]

thanks for the link--I actually didnt have the manual, as the bike/wheel is a hand-me-down from my father, and i'm off at boarding school...

the wheel is all put back together, complete with new spoke. the real difficulty was that I had to completely disassemble the hub (remove bearings/axle) to get the spoke out for some reason, and putting the hub back together was no fun. I still have some play in the axle, which means the bearings arent pressed all the way back in, which I'm still working on...

thanks for the help