I just had to rebuild my wheel hub and consequently had to respoke the wheel. It's not as hard as it seems, just a bit time consuming if you want to save some money.
I was contemplating doing it myself, but I found a second spoke loose, so im worried its just going to be a cascade of spoke failure. In your case, did you need to true the wheel?
My hardtail is popping spokes right and left. Well one every two to three months. Shit wheels simply.
Changing a spoke isn't that hard but it can be a fiddly process. And cumbersome. Have a look at a few spoke replacement videos to see if it is something you think you can do yourself. Depending on where the spoke broke you will need a new nippie too.
And then you really should true the wheel as well. You dont need a fancy srand for that but it helps. A zip tie, or just snything flexible that doesn't scratch, and just hold it while you spin the wheel is enough to locate the wobbly spot. Then untighten one spoke and tighten another quarter to half turn. Spin wheel to see effect and bew worst spot. Fiddly but fun.
All you need is some new spokes, new nipples, and a nipple adjustment tool. The tool really is essential, it's extremely frustrating to do with a normal wrench. As for a stand to true the wheel on, you can invest in that, but you can also just flip the bike upside down and spin the wheel and true it by eye.
It can also be a little hard to get the tire and tube off the rim if you need to replace any of the nipples, but it should be easy enough if you take the air out of the tube, then jam something under the tire and hold it, and use your finger or another tool to run along the loosened tire until it comes out of the rim, then do the same on the other side.
Thanks! My local shops seem to be more discreet and I have recently made the mistake of going to a manufacture bike store that charge a flat fee like car dealerships. Just trying to get a rough estimate.
Other folks have commented on general pricing, and you can't go wrong with a wheel rebuild. My last bike was having cascading spoke failures, and a complete rebuild did the trick.
But, replacing a single spoke isn't so bad if you have the tools. You can true it reasonably well by eye. If you have good ears, I like to strum the spokes to hear the sound they make, and match pitch with other spokes on the same side. I replaced one spoke on the side of the road like this and the wheel has stayed true.
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