I’m looking at buying Hope Enduro Pro 4 29er wheels and I’ve seen two options: standard or straight pull.

First off, am I correct in thinking this refers to the spokes? The straight pull are a little more expensive by the look of it (I’ve not shopped around extensively just yet) so are these better? What’s the benifit?

Cheers, y’all!

Benefit is they’re (in theory) stronger & stiffer due to the lack of flex with the removal of the bend.
In reality they’re a pain in the ass, especially when you snap a spoke hundreds of miles from home, as it’s rare a shop has the right length. With a conventional spoke, any bike shop in the world (probably) will have one to keep you riding.
Just my humble opinion though of course.

In theory having the spoke bent through 90 degrees at their ends increases stresses in the spoke so straight pull should be stronger. The hubs require a bit more machining hence the greater expense. When I look at most of my spoke breakages they seem to fail where the thread begins rather than at the J-end. I have had a few fail there, but mostly at the thread end. I prefer straight pull because they are a more elegant engineering solution and I just prefer the look of them, but that’s not to say there is anything particularly wrong with J-spokes.

Another advantage of a straight pull is if you do break a spoke out on the trail you can remove the broken spoke out in-situ. Sometimes with J-pull depending on how they break you can’t remove them without removing your brake disk or cassette so have to wrap the broken spoke around an adjacent spoke to fining the ride.

In reality they’re a pain in the ass, especially when you snap a spoke hundreds of miles from home

But how often do you snap spokes? They are supposed to be stiffer but most importantly they look better 🙂 Just get a few spare spokes.

For me that’d not even be a decision to make, I’d get the Js. If you ever want to replace a spoke, or a rim, or for that matter a hub, straightpull is a pain in the cock. And it doesn’t really have any significant advantages. It’s supposed to remove a weak spot but who breaks spokes at the J? Spo

My first real experience of straightpull was breaking a spoke in fort william and discovering there wasn’t a single straightpull in town. Not “the right size”, just any at all. My second was needing to replace a rim and discovering you could hardly buy spokes in the size I want and they were all spectacularly expensive. So my third was having to buy a different rim from the one I wanted so I could reuse the spokes, and the fourth was never buying a ****ing straightpull wheel ever again. Still got a rear hub out of those wheels, nobody’ll ever buy it…

(oh, in these post-truth days we’re told that we should buy Boost hubs to add valuable strength by increasing triangulation. Straightpull hubs usually have a considerably smaller pitch circle, decreasing triangulation. #makesyouthink)

A couple of years ago I needed some black straight pull spokes replaced. LBS said if I wanted them in black like the existing spokes, I’d need to pay extra – about the price of a bag of 24 to be (vaguely) exact. On the plus side I would have got a bag of 22 spokes for poking things with. Went with silver.

J pulls are more common because they do the job and are cheaper and easier to manufacture. Straight pull is a solution to a problem that is not that common – and if a stronger design is used then usually the additional strength will be traded for weight so they end up not being any stronger than the alternative. I always have spare spokes at home and will take them with me if on a biking trip so straight pull wouldn’t bother me. Replacing a single spoke is an easy and quick task – not sure why you wouldn’t have spares. Breaking spokes is not THAT common, but it’s not uncommon either. I probably break a couple a year. Granted it’s probably because I don’t bother to keep an eye on spoke tension, but breaking a spoke is hardly a big issue on a mountain bike with burly rims which won’t even go out of true with the loss of a spoke or two. On a road bike with rim brakes then it’s ride over and call the wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/mum to pick you up.

Anyway to answer the OPs question it doesn’t matter, probably easier, cheaper and more convenient to go J-pull.

wobbliscott – Member

J pulls are more common because they do the job and are cheaper and easier to manufacture.

I’d be surprised if the last is true tbh. Other than the economies of scale, a straightpull spoke is simpler than a J spoke. The hubs are more complex though.

Owned numerous straight pull and J pull wheelsets, personally can’t tell any difference in terms of strength.

I have however had to write off perfectly serviceable straight spoke wheels because spare spokes have been impossible to find.

If you’re prepared to pay up front for a box of straight-pull spokes (a lifetime’s worth) then OK, because they can be a nightmare to find. I had to do a re-rim on a friend’s bike and the closest I could get involved buying them from Germany and having to use longer nipples as couldn’t find anyone in the UK prepared to sell me 2-wheel’s worth, only a box on special-order.

there’s a design flaw in straight pull spokes (well on my mavics anyway) they can spin in hub, not a problem with “normal spokes”, but with very flat aero spokes they end up making a fan wheel, every other ride I have to reset them (tried adding more tension, less tension, thread lock at the hub spoke interface nothing has worked so far)

In reality they’re a pain in the ass, especially when you snap a spoke hundreds of miles from home, as it’s rare a shop has the right length. With a conventional spoke, any bike shop in the world (probably) will have one to keep you riding.[/I]

This

I’ve a couple of sets of straight pulls, bought as they were lighter and said to be better.

Only spokes I’ve ever snapped and ended up buying a box so my little LBS could replace them – felt wrong him buying a full box and never been able to sell them, so I’ve left them on his shelf for further ones I snap.

Straight pull spokes spin around when tensioning meaning each one has to be held clamped with something during a build or when replacing a spoke. A right royal pain. Its a case of a design solution for a non existent problem

My first real experience of straightpull was breaking a spoke in fort william and discovering there wasn’t a single straightpull in town.

At least Hope have the decency to include a couple of spares with their wheel builds, saying that I’ve only ever bought J’s.

I’ve had 3 sets of SP hub’d wheels and never had any problems. The current set I built myself and ordered a few spare spokes for each wheel.
Using aero spokes made it a bit easier as I put a saw cut into a piece of wood to hold the spokes square whilst tensioning them.
I do prefer the look of them too.