broken spoke how to replace?

[jpconard]

Putting on new tires on 98 XR250. Got front on last weekend. When cleaning up back rim one spoke just fell out (tire was off). I figured it probably had broken (near the hub) when I had tried to tighten in the past and the nipple was rusted to the spoke. But it wasn't, took only finger effort to unthread the nipple from the broken spoke.

Anyhow called 3 shops near St. Louis all would have to order and maybe could get by Friday.

Is it possible to use a little duct tape and put in nipple. Put the back tire on, rim strip, tube, etc. Then when I get the spoke later put it in and thread into the nipple?

I think the nipple would stay in place on the rim from just the tire air pressure, but not sure?

This bike ran from 96 to 04 and nobody carries spokes? Are they the same spokes as the 400?

[Trailryder42]

Is it possible to use a little duct tape and put in nipple. Put the back tire on, rim strip, tube, etc. Then when I get the spoke later put it in and thread into the nipple?

I don't see a problem with that.

Call places like Woodys Wheel Works http://www.woodyswheelworks.com/ or

Buchanan Spokes http://www.buchananspokes.net/ and see if you can get a spoke or two.

[TX-SANDMAN]

Put some tape of the nipple or nipple whole and go ridding - just keep an eye on the rest of the spokes. I would not worry about it unless you are jumping triples.

[DGXR]

Yeah you should be OK putting the nipple in the rim and riding it a little easier than usual until the new spoke arrives. It might be a tough/awkward angle to get the spoke through the hub and straight down into the nipple, you might have to let some air out of the tire in order to sink the nipple a little and line up the new spoke with nipple threads, and/or bend the spoke a little to shorten it. The reason is, once the mushroom end of the spoke is seated in the hub, it won't back out unless it's angled sideways and then it obviously won't go into the nipple at that angle. Hope this makes sense, and helps you some.