Loose spokes (and one bent) on a wheel (w/ disc brakes)

rat_race

Hey,

Just noticed that my tourer/hybrid -- which I've used in the past for heavy-loaded touring on some rocky terrain -- has 2 or 3 rather loose spokes, which are basically providing no tension at all. They're not near each other on the wheel. One of them is bent, at about an inch down from the nipple -- it's a short bend, so not sure what caused it but looks like it must have had contact with something else. About an inch or two long. I've had no bad crashes or anything, but maybe a loose spoke can get damaged easier or something?


Anyway, my question is, given that this is a disc-brake wheel, and it doesn't really have to be 100% true, shall I just tighten up these spokes (including the bent one), confirm the wheel is fairly true, and forget about it? I know I should ideally replace the slightly-bent spoke, but I'd prefer not to unless there's actually a high risk of it leading to further damage. I'm hoping some tension will straighten it out a bit.

Or any other tips?

Also, I'm guessing this happened months ago during a heavy-loaded tour, due the the weight...I'm only using it to commute at the moment. Or could constant vibrations loosen them?

Rims are Alex EN24s.

Thanks ...

hardCopy

The only downside I can think of is that a buckle on the wheel might make it more inclined to lock up in the same spot every time you break hard, creating excessive wear in one spot.

It's easy enough to make big improvements to an off-true rim with a spoke key. I've never had the patience to get it 100% true but I can do enough to keep me going until I get a big enough buckle to justify having it trued professionally.

I'd at least tighten up the loose ones enough to stop them rattling.

Lumen

I wouldn't worry about trueness on a disc-brakes wheel rim, but loose spokes mean uneven distribution of load.

I'd get it properly sorted (yourself or by a wheelbuilder), or else you're likely to get a lot more spoke failures and need the wheel completely rebuilt.