Spokes, Nipples, Wheels etc...

jimo746

Gold Trader
MacRetro Rider
Orange 🍊 Fan
Feedback
View
I have gone and done it, I had a pair of perfectly good (if a little grubby) wheels and now I've gone and stripped them down to the bare hubs and rims, the spokes and nipples are now in the recycling bin. :D

Hubs are Shimano RX100 (36hole)
Rims are Mavic Open 4CD (36hole)

I'd like to build the front in a radial pattern, using alloy nipples and either stainless double-butted spokes, or perhaps bladed "aero" spokes.

The rear I'd like to do half-radial, again with alloy nipples and stainless double-butted spokes.


I've done a search on here and found links to suppliers, and spoke length calculators (still not 100% sure on these things though, any links to a "simple" spoke calculator are welcomed!)
I've built a couple of sets of wheels in the past, although not for quite a few years, but I'll have my bible (The Bicycle Wheel - Jobst Brandt) handy for reference.


Is there much benefit from using bladed spokes? are they worth the extra money? or am I just asking for trouble?

I'm guessing I'll be wanting 14guage spokes? which means the nipples need to be 2.0mm ones?
 
The dt swiss spoke calculator is easy to follow.

What's are you aiming for - weight, looks, aero?

Aluminium nipples are good to save weight, but they are prone to binding, particularly if you ride in bad weather. This will make them fiddly to true at a later date. Only use them if you really want to save weight, or want fancy colours.

With those box section rims there's not really any point in using bladed spokes for aero. They will look very nice though. Weight saving is only going to happen if you go for Aerolite or CX-Ray, but they are very expensive. Cheaper bladed spokes will probably be heavier than round ones.

For standard road use I'd go for ACI 2:1.7mm double butted with 12mm x 2mm nipples. About 20p each from cyclebasket. Not sure what gauge that equates to but it's standard and comparable to DT comp or Sapim Race.

Sapim CX-Ray if you want bladed.

Why the radial lacing?
 
Thanks for the reply. Must admit the reason for rebuild is mainly form over function :oops: hence the reason for wanting to have a radial spoked front, that and the fact I've not built a radial wheel before (can you believe the 1st set of wheels I built were in a snowflake pattern?! the folly of youth I guess, but they were still true when I sold them a few years later :cool: ).
I've ruled bladed spokes out now, mainly due to cost, and I could also see it being a pain if they started to twist and become more of an airbrake instead of aero :LOL:

I'm looking at using ACI SS DB spokes with gold alloy nipples, I found the UBI spoke calculator better for a simpleton like me ;)

http://www.bikeschool.com/tools/spoke-length-calculator
 

Latest posts

Back
Top