Broken spoke

[strider80]

I was checking my spokes before riding on Saturday and found 4 to be really loose (maybe bent rim?) and when I tried to tighten one of them it snapped off in the nipple(went riding anyways). So I know I pretty much have to pull the tire now. I figure I might as well replace all of the nipples and spokes while I am at it. Does anyone sell a spoke kit for KDXs and includes all the spokes and nipples?

 

[strider80]

http://www.buchananspokes.com/KawKXspokes.htm
Well using the underutilized search feature I found that KX spokes should fit okay. Anyone else deal with this lately?

method
http://dirtrider.net/forums3/showthread.php?t=73624&page=2&pp=10&highlight=spoke+size

 

[bikepilot]

Most KX's have 19" rear wheels and I seriously doubt the spokes are the same length. The front spokes might work though. I've used the Buchanan spokes on a YZ before and they are top quality:)

 

[strider80]

They have an 18" option.

 

[bpositive]

do you have to pull the wheel and dismount the tire to replace a spoke ???

 

[strider80]

Well after thinking about it, I may try to deflate the tube, break the bead and maybe I will be able to remove the one nipple that has the piece of broken spoke in it (spoke broke in the nipple). Maybe I will get lucky and not have to demount the tire.

Anyone done this before?

 

[Green Hornet]

It will probably be easier breaking the bead off to the side. You will spend more time trying to squeeze your fingers into that little area then it will to break bead and remount. IMO

 

[FruDaddy]

Use vise grips to pinch the tire down, the big ones that welders use with the large throat. Removing the valve core will guarantee that there is no air in the tube.

 

[strider80]

Well for those of you who care (or may in the future), I was able to remove my broken spokes(and nipples) without much trouble just by using a couple of tire irons to move the tire over and then grabbed the nipples with a pair of needle nose pliers. It took about 10 minutes of fiddling, but I got all 4 broken spokes without dismounting the tire or removing the wheel from the bike.

I broke all 4 spokes when trying to tighen them, it looks like the combination of packed silt and rust(?) seized the spokes and nipples together over the years. I sprayed some penetrant into the nipple before trying to tighten them, but I think it was too little too late.

I am not sure what the lesson is here, probably keep the spokes tight and the nipples lubed on a regular basis to avoid this. I supposed I could have never bothered to tighen the spokes and it would have been fine for 5 more year till the rim taco'd, oh well.

Time to order a few spokes and see if I can get it back together I guess!

 

[kelseybrent]

It's tedious, but you can remove, clean, apply anti-sieze, and retighten all the nipples one by one and you won't have to worry about them siezeing again. Inital loosen and finish tighen them with a good spoke wrench, but you can spin them on and off with a cordless driver. Good winter project in front of the TV.

Just wait till the wife is out to bring the rim, kerosene and anti-sieze into the living room ;)

 

[Green Hornet]

Try to find aftermarket spokes or used, but straight spokes. You will get nausea at the prices Kawasaki charges for a spoke :bang: :coocoo:

 

[strider80]

Well I ended up getting a full set of spokes from Buchannon for $70 or so shipped. They are ones from a KX 250, the spokes and nipples were both larger diameter(I didn't realize this before ordering, probably last forever now). I was planning on just replacing the 4 broken ones in place, but after I realized the nipples would not fit the stock rim I decided to suck it up and pull off the tire to drill out all the nipple holes on the rim. I drilled and replaced 2 spokes(with anti-seize on the threads) at a time so that the rim would stay relatively true. It took me about 3 hours to unmount the tire, drill the rim, replace all the spokes and torque them up relatively easily by hand. Tonight I am going to torque them with a torque wrench and see if I can true up the wheel a little better. The rim did not run true before I started this whole process, so hopefully without too much effort I can get it better than before.

Most of the spokes were pretty seized up so I cut most off with bolt cutters to speed things up.