I am thinking about building up a wheelset with am classic hubs, stans arch rims and super comp spokes with alu nipples. Should be circa 1530g for £500.

Reviews suggest they are triple butted and strong. Any comments or suggestions? Also what are the pro / con of brass vs alu nipples?

Cheers
Dickie

I’ve got supercomps, they seem plenty stiff enough and so far no breakages. They are a bit more expensive, but otherwise a good choice.

Always brass nipples for me, especially if you plan on keeping them for a few years. They should mean much less chance of them binding into the rim.

Despite what MBR says the weight saving of Ali nipples is not worth the hassle it causes down the line…….ask specialized wheel owners.
Cx Rays for the win on the spoke front (spendy though).

dont bother with alu nipples, waste of time unless you only want the wheels for a couple of months.

Previous Specialized wheel owner! had many problems with alu nipples.
However I have a custom wheelset from JRA:

AC front hub with Alpine rim and supercomp spokes with brass nipples. -very light and no complaints.
AC rear hub with alu nip’s Alpine rim and CXray spokes. No complaints.

Alu nipples on a good quality build have there place. And you have a good spoke key.

SuperComp spokes are pretty good btw.

Hmm. I thought Competition and SuperComp were one and the same.

Supercomps are 31g lighter then competition over a wheel

see JRA for more info

I found after a few years the super comp spokes started to snap at the spoke, also wouldn’t rate getting alu nipples they will start to crack after a year of use. When I was getting a wheel build done none of my local shops would recommend or build a wheel with alu nipples, and they are very hard to tweak your wheel at a later date with as so soft. Sapim spokes have a very good fatigue life apparently.

Thanks for your thoughts fellas. Those who make positive comments can I ask what sort of riding you do?

Comps are double butted (2.0/1.8), Super Comps are Triple (2.0/1.7/1.8). Revolutions are usually 2.0/1.5 although there are 1.8/1.5s out there.

CX-Rays (and Aerolites) have a higher fatigue life than round spokes, and a slight aero benefit. Nowt else. Not worth it on the MTB unless you break a lot of spokes. If used in conjunction with alu nips the nipple breaks instead of the spoke, which is just as much faff. I broke a number of nipples while using CX-Rays/Aerolites (I’ve had 2 sets of MTB wheels with the former, one with the latter).

Alu nips save weight, but will corrode and seize, you can oil them etc to put it off, but it will happen eventually. I’d not bother unless it’s a super light wheelset (I still use them on my race wheels FWIW).

Buy DT spokes from Action Sports, far far cheaper than the UK shops, they sent me 10 spare Revolutions when I bought from them too.

Super Comps are a safe bet if you want light, but don’t want to go as fragile as Revs. Saying that a decent build on Revs would be tougher than a shonky build on Super Comps! Personally I don’t really see the point. If you want light go for Revolutions, if you want cheap go for Competitions, not that sure about the middle ground! YMMV.

There’s a replacement for the Arch coming next year too apparently, if you’re in no rush I’d probably wait for that.

My Rovals have Supercomps in, and they’ve proved up to the job… Broken/damaged a couple but then it’s a light wheelset doing the job of a heavy one so no wonder. The DT alu nipples were useless after one winter though, seized up to the point that they broke before they’d turn. (when I replaced them with brass, quite a few refused to be removed and the spokes had to be cut out, annoying)

FFS,think of the children,etc,etc……

DON’T USE ALLY NIPS IN OUR SHIT CLIMATE !

RANT – If I see Njee say YMMV one more time im gonna kill myself!!!!!

/rant

🙂

I’ve bought these, assuming they were brass.

I fear I have messed up now.

http://www.roseversand.com/article/dt-swiss-pro-lock-nipples/aid:46915

RANT – If I see Njee say YMMV one more time im gonna kill myself!!!!!

Do I really say it that much!? Strong thoughts there. I only tend to add it because people accuse one of preaching if you don’t.

Particularly when they’ve spent £100 on totally pointless spoke upgrades thinking it’ll make a stronger, stiffer wheel, when it doesn’t 🙂

Nah only kidding around. You do say it a few times though.
In hind sight I probably should of gone for brass for my rear wheel. Needed to save alittle £ on the front. still light as a feather.

Ive already dented the rear Alpine (still straight after a tweak) so when that goes i’ll get it rebuilt be Brass nips.

I meant bladed spokes rather than alu nips. Alu nips have their place on very light wheels.