[Closed] Coloured nipples

They aren’t all made of blue cheese. Some are purpley, orangey or greeny. But they are all made of cheese.

Avoid. They’re all shit.

There are these, which are brass and therefore not cheese.

https://www.tlcbikes.com/bmx-parts/12mm-brass-spoke-nipples/

If they're of interest, I've got 80 which I've not used yet and could sell for £20. Note that they require a 3.4mm key which is slightly larger than the normal DT etc.

Once they get past a certain age they seem to just disintegrate on contact. I'm sure there are better quality ones and they'll last longer if prepped well and kept clean but personally I avoid them. There's plenty of other places on the bike to get yer bling fix!

I got some red brass ones off ebay - they did other colours.

The coating was a bit more delicate than silver but not much more than black so you couldn't just mash them with a spoke key but they were otherwise fine.

I'll have those off you please bez ! Drop me a message or email

I went alloy - brass - alloy - brass etc

Nothing yet has harmed a Robins face.

Alloy nips can work fine if built properly, prepped properly, and looked after properly, I have several wheels using alu nipples that are approaching 20 years old and still going strong with no issues whatsoever. And have built numerous sets over the years for others (both commercially and private), the ones that fail early are invariably the ones that aren't looked after.

If you don't do all of the above, or they get regular expose to road salt they they'll likely not last well at all, so it's a case of knowing what you're letting yourself in for, and having realistic expectations.

Sure there are some use cases where I wouldn't recommend them, and wouldn't use them for myself but in general they're not the liability that some claim them to be. But I always default/recommend brass unless there's a specific reason to go Alu, and 'because I want coloured nipples' is as good a reason as any 😉