Walkers World - Seized Spokes

Spokes are a nightmare if they are not kept sparkly from day one but there is a way to sort this problem out as long as you haven't trashed the nipples too much.

Basically, what happens with the spokes is that the thread on the spoke and nipple is so fine that it doesn't take much of a crud and corrosion build-up to seize the boys in there. The way to sort the problem is to take these steps...

1 Get your wheels out of your bike

2 Get the tyres off your rims

3 Remove any rim tape and security bolts

4 Be amazed by the amount of crap and corrosion build-up

5 Get yourself a good wire brush

6 With your wire brush, get stuck into scrubbin' the crud away

7 Make sure you do a real good number on this

8 Get yourself some penetrating oil and spray into each spoke nipple, you will have to repeat this and eventually the oil will free the nipple

9 On any really stubborn spokes try a little bit of gentle heat on the nipple as this will quite often do the trick

10 If you do all this and you still have a couple of stubborn units, just cut 'em out and pop a couple of new spokes and nipples in place...