Does anybody know where I can get a rear wheel built from a Big Un hub and a XM521 rim? Short DT Comp or Sapim spokes seem impossible to find. I’ve tried Freeborn in Esher, rung Merlin and spoken to Birdie Bikes too. No joy. Anybody?

Edinburgh bike co op did mine – but they didn’t put enough tension in the spokes

Cheers, it doesn’t sound like a wholehearted recommendation really.

I don’t think the spokes are that rare. Certainly when I phoned around it seemed not too hard to get. Some folk have had very good results from EBC. The issue was it was on the tandem where you need super tight spokes otherwise they loosen off due tot eh extra weight.

Cheers, TJ.

It’s not a difficult build, just a bit fiddly.

You might have to buy a box of 100 spokes, can’t see it being any worse than that.

Al, 2 boxes and that’s around £200 these days. Too expensive for my liking.

Wheelcraft?

£1 a spoke? Rip off, unles I am in a time warp. Bicycle Works chrged 50p each for competition only a few years ago.

And you CAN use the same length for both sides though some builders won’t like it.

Is there really a benefit to big uns that you need?

What is a XM521 rim? I can see it on the Mavic site. If you mean the EN521 what on earth is the point of running a heavy Downhill hub on a medium weight endro/am rim?

The only reason for bigun’s is to run them on a DH / DJ rim to build an incredibly strong wheel (due to short spoke length) that your never going to break.

I have them on old style D321 (- now 729’s) on my DH bike and they’ve had to be trued once in the last 5 years. I didnt even loose a spoke in canada.

To run a heavy hub with short spoke on a lighter weight rim seems counter-intuitive?

Find someone who sells boxes of spokes rather than individual spokes, £100 for a box of 100 spokes is not right.

How big is the difference in length on the two sides? Usually you can get away with about 2mm or so out.

Or just use plain gauge DT spokes from Chain Reaction. I’ve had to do that with small wheels before, and the wheels seem fine. They do em in pretty much any length.

Joe

How short do you need? a quick look at the dt swiss spoke calc thing shows the spoke lengths to be pretty much the same as a normal hope hub (or is it rim very tall?)

I got a bunch of spokes for my last wheelbuild off eBay, 100 for under £20, bargain.

£1 a spoke? Rip off, unles I am in a time warp. Bicycle Works chrged 50p each for competition only a few years ago.

You appear to be in a timewarp. The retail price for black DT Comp spokes is now £1.24

IIRC black are priced as revolution – 50% more than competition?

Black revolutions appear to be slightly cheaper (£1.15ea) than black comps now which is slightly bonkers.

We should have spokes that’ll do the job at Sunset 02920371321, if you’re still stuck give me a call tomorrow when i’m back in.(assuming you want silver spokes, think I may have black too, but unsure)

Guys, I already have the hub, the rim too (right, it’s not XM but EN521), bike without a rear wheel and a collection of 5-bolt rotors. If no joy with Cyclopedia in Surbiton I’ll call Coatsey at Sunset tomorrow. Cheers!

36 spokes in pretty much any lenght between 224 and 268 are less than £20 on chainreaction…. They look like they’ve got DT comp in stock.

Not too bad to lace them yourself actually – have a go!

Paul, you’re right, but where do I find out the required spoke length? And what about those 12/14mm nipples from CRC?

There is a link to a spoke calculator on the hope site

Can’t find it.

http://www.hopegb.com/page_mep_force_4.html

Sadly no EN521 there (should I try EN321?).

How TF can spokes be £1.24??????? That’s taking the piss! Last spokes I bought, DT Revs, were about 65p each. Only 3 or 4 years ago. Tell me spokes jolly well have not doubled in price?

Revs 90p each

Aren’t revs for gentle (read: proper) XC only? I have a BigUn and a EN521 to lace up potentially.

And what length?

Using the DT calculator with a Hope BigUn hub and Mavic EN521 rim with 32 holes and an ERD of 532mm the spokes come out as 254 and 256mm for a 3-cross pattern – as these lengths are so close you’ll get away with all spokes the same length on both sides.

Please just double check that ERD for the rim which I got from a retailer not Mavic.

Yes Rev’s are lightweight but strong IMO. I posted the price for those as they’re the most expensive spokes I’d buy. Competitions are cheaper and have greater strength on paper (I think) but don’t allow as much flex in the wheel, which could result in more failures… Depends on your riding style and quality of wheel build – the only revs I’ve broken were soon after I built my first rear wheel with inadequate tension (been fine since tightening even with some major rim pranging).

no way do revs make a stronger wheel tan comps.

OP, line up the rim with one with a known ERD and compare them.

revolutions are 50p each on CRC (£18 for 36) but there’s no way I’d build that kind of wheel with them…. What’s the point of saving the odd 50g or so, when you’re using Biguns?

Right, can I use just one length of spokes or do I nees two? If two, 252 is easy, but the other side? 254 or 256? They use 14mm nipples BTW.

Clearer view is here.

Ignore it, got permission for a new wheel – Hope XC/en521/revs 🙂