Spoke puncturing my tube, can I cut it? I recently bought a second hand city bike. After a 2 weeks I got a flat tire. On closer inspection it looks like this is due to the spoke. The rim tape is fine though. It seems that this particular spoke was changed by the previous owner and its end is more prominent than the others. Can this be the reason? Can I safely cut the excess? This is the spoke I think caused the puncture (although the rim tap seems fine. !spoke that caused puncture This is the look of the other spokes. !normal spoke

I'd cut it without a special tool:

* fully unthread the nipple
* remove spoke from the rim (no need to remove it from hub)
* fully thread the nipple as far as it can go
* cut 5mm of spoke thread with a regular cutting plier
* fully unthread the nipple. mushed threads (from the cheap pliers) will be fixed that way
* insert spoke into rim
* thread nipple as much as necessary



Other options:

* simply remove spoke from rim until you get a shorter one. missing 1 spoke doesn't cause any problems
* partially unthread spoke and bend it in the middle with pliers until you get a shorter one
* leave spoke as is and place a rubber square from an old tyre between spoke and rim tape to prevent any further punctures