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Sunday 22 November 2009 | Personalise | Help  
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 Cormac Eason
Posted: 09/10/06 12:15:12 12
Message: There are a hell of a lot of £150 gas pipe bike frames out there too. They will snap, but they will also last long enough to do for most of the people that buy them and many will never see a failure at all.

The thing is those that choose black spokes for the look of them are the same people that will change their wheels every couple of years to keep them looking good. I'm guessing any difference will manifest itself over a 5-10 year + period (By which time most people will have got the value from them). It's not a make or break choice on building a wheel anymore, but it's worth checking whether the particular spokes you want have good or bad reviews.

I would also recommend double butted instead of straight gauge spokes. They're well worth the extra cost. The reason they're a better idea is that the small diameter part of the spoke allows the spoke to stretch more for a given load then a straight gauge spoke will (The peak stress is still at the spoke bend which is the same diameter on butted and straight gauge spokes). This is useful as a wheel built to the same spoke tension with double butted spokes needs a higher load before the spoke at the bottom of the wheel goes slack (And is likely to loosen) than a straight gauge spoke because the rim has to be deformed more.

It should be noted that wheels carry their load by having the spoke pointing towards the ground lose tension while all the other spokes gain tension (Equal to that lost by the bottom spoke(s) divided by the number of remaining spokes). Badly butted spokes can fail due to the stress at the diameter change, but I've never seen it happen with any reputable brand (When double butted spokes turned up on the market first it was a problem - the butting was also sold as a weight saving measure rather than on its potential to make wheels more durable).

Almost every spoke failure occurs at the 90 degree bend where the spoke meets the flange (The only exception to this I've seen is where the chain gouged some spokes after hopping inside the cassette and being pedalled a couple of turns before the guy riding the bike noticed)...

The disadvantage to using double butted spokes is if you tend to catch stuff in your wheels a lot and tear out spokes regularly as double butted spoked wheels will go further out of true than straight gauge wheels if a spoke does break and they may be more easily broken by debris getting caught in the spokes (Though then again their greater stretchiness may save them from failing too).
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