A broken spoke is another pretty serious mishap to have on a ride and, thankfully, another reasonably rare one – again, providing you look after your wheels.

Should you happen to have a spare spoke with you (as well as a spoke key) and are feeling a bit intrepid, by all means have a go at installing a replacement (here’s our guide), but you can ride home fine with a broken spoke by taking a few precautions.

Maintenance guide: How to replace a broken spoke

The first thing to do is remove the spoke from the wheel or, if that’s not possible, to secure it to another spoke. The last thing you want is the spoke flapping about, hitting all sorts of things and possibly even getting caught and doing more damage to you or your bike.

Depending on how out of true the wheel has gone as a result, you may need to open the brake calipers to give the wheel a bit more room for manoeuvre. Do this by either flicking up the small tab on the left hand side of the caliper (for Shimano and SRAM) or pushing the tab across at the top of the brake lever (Campagnolo). In bad cases, you may also need to adjust the tension of the several other adjacent spokes in the wheel with a spoke key (again, if you have one).

It might be without saying, but make sure you ride home carefully with a broken spoke. Avoid potholes and other road hazards and resist any temptation to push the pace!