Hi all!

one last wheel build question….

Which spoke should I use for a trail/hardcore xc wheel build for someone who has a winter weight of 160 (never get weighed in the summer)?

DT comp 2.0/1.8

or….

DT rev 2.0/1.5

thoughts?

I promise I’ll get on to getting them built and posting pics after this 🙂

Comps.Revs for raceday/road wheels.Same goes for Ali nips.

I weigh more and revs fine on the front, I didn’t risk it on the rear though.

Supercomps?

Lighter than comps, more reliable than revs. Maybe.

I wouldn’t put alloy nips on any wheel that’s likely to get wet.

cynic-al how’s stiffness? and what is the rest of your set up?

Alloy nipples are fine the only people that complain about them are the ones thet don’t look after them properly.

If you are on a budget can i suggest ACI Alpina Spokes
They are 2.0 / 1.7 / 2.0 so just a bit lighter than DT Competition
I’ve got 2 pairs of wheels built with these spokes by Merlin and they have been fine over the years.
I just bought a box of 144 of these spokes with 12mm brass nipples for £15 + postage from Ebay…Just search for ACI Alpina.
The reason they are cheap is they are untrendy silver.
If you are just starting wheelbuilding ( as i am ) i would recommend you stick to normal spokes and brass nipples to start with as alloy nipples and thin spokes such as DT Rev’s are more difficult to learn with.
Having looked at your earlier questions on rim choice i can recommend the ARCH EX rims. Nice and wide at 21mm with a strength in between Crests and Flows. They are light too at 395g per rim. I got mine from “Just riding along”
I built my first ever wheel today ( Arch EX on DT hubs ) and it was very satisfying. However at six hours to do a passable job on one wheel i ain’t ever going to make money at it.
I have learn’t using Roger Mussons, wheelPro guide to building wheels. lots of excellent advice in there. You download it as a PDF.
Good luck

Alloy nipples are fine ,the only people that complain about them are the ones who are paid by people to try and service them. FIFY

Stans Olympic, qr hub, revelation, it’s not as stiff as my 20mm X819 front end but no concerns.

How does one look after nipples exactly?

wondering that myself cynic-al. thanks for the reply.

mtbmarkymark- thanks for the detailed response, these will be built by the local shop for me, don’t trust myself to build, may learn when I relace an old pair tho.
On rim choice I decided to stay with the DT I considered at first, 20mm ID is fine for me, not the lightest, but worth it for peace of mind i figure…don’t know why but I just don’t trust the ex yet…maybe after i see some get used and abused i will. Hence the reason for trying to shave a few grams on spokes….I’ll look into the 2.0/1.7 ones..

baznav73 – Member
Alloy nipples are fine the only people that complain about them are the ones thet don’t look after them properly.

Got better things to do with my life than “look after” spoke nipples. 🙂 Gimme brass any day.

Sdeals.com do those spokes cheap

I’d keep DT. But why not just Champion them? No use in spending the extra 8 pounds for Comp.

I’ve got on well with the supercomps in my Traversees- I’ve broken a couple but always due to abuse or cackhandedness.

OTOH the DT hex alloy nipples have been a total nightmare, to the extent that I rebuilt one of the wheels with proper brass ones. The weight difference is minor but being able to true your wheel is pretty useful.

“winter weight of 160”

160kg?

Err, DT plain guage and at least 36 of them?

EDIT:
“don’t look after them properly”
How do you look after (alu.) nipples?

How do you look after (alu.) nipples?

You dont ride them in any for of muddy technical track. Don’t land caddywonkus and mainly stick to tarmac…

Spoke selection seems more to do with stiffness than strength. Revs are perfectly strong enough. Actually I’ve read somewhere that they are stronger than comps (something to do with the manufacturing process) at any rate, they never go at the centre, where they are butted – They go at the base of the thread or the elbow.

Supercomps seem like a good compromise but pretty sure they use a different nipple guage, so check depending what nips you want to use.

If you true your wheels a lot, it’s best to go with brass nips, otherwise ali are fine in my experience.

thanks all for the responses…still haven’t decided yet, gonna talk to the shop in a few days and I’ll ask him then…but I’ve got a few days to think about it till then…

never thought i’d be this hard to build my wheels…then again I am rather indecisive 😛

What about Sapim Race. They hold tension really well, they do not twist when tensioning and allow really straight round wheels i.e. less than 0.2mm and they stay that way. They also come with excellent brass nipples that do not distort at high tensions.

My experience of building with 2.0/1.5/2.0 mm spokes has been spoke twisting when tensioning and truing so once the wheel is done and stress relieved it it is ~0.5mm roundness and lateral true. Futher tension adjustments to straighten make rounder just twists the spokes so the wheel goes out again. To me this not good enough so I don’t use them for general purpose wheels. I would on a race wheel though but only on the front if weight is really a big issue.

Sapim are no better than DT, ACI etc IME.

I know that!

Fair enough, but your post implied otherwise.

hey all! as promised here is my final build:

build list is as follows:

Hubs: Silver Hope Pro 2

Spokes: Wheelsmith 2.0/1.7/2.0-Prolock nips (thanks for the tip mtbmarkymark)

Rims: DT XM 450

Weight (set): 1760g on the shop scale

I went ahead with the DT’s, figured I’d just go with my initial choice, pretty happy with the way the build turned out, LOVE the hubs! Got a new cassette coming mid week, should be able to ride them then, until then here is a few more pics:

Thanks to all of you who helped!