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I'm building up a set of lightish, but strong wheels for all mountain duties (Mavic XM719 Rims, 36 spokes and Hope Bulb hubs). I'm thinking of swapping to alloy nipples to save a little weight, is this a bad move on an all mountain wheelset or can I expect reasonable longevity?
Will I notice the difference?
Although the weight saving will be minimal, you may have fun trueing up the wheels, as these round out quite easily if the spokes seize in them.
I personally wouldn't bother.
if i were you i'd have a good dump before you going out riding. you wouldn't believe how much weight you can save
Never use alloy nipples unless someone else is maintaining or paying for your wheels.
Aye, eat one less sandwich a week, you'd be amazed at how much weight you can save.
NO little weight saving and tons of heartache truing in the future.
Better /easier ways of saving weight
anyone want to buy a bag of alloy nipples?
Only nipples i like are the kind you could hang a wet duffell coat off 😀
Like monkeys fingers? 😉 😆
For a 32 hole wheel, you'll save about 20g by using alloy nipples over brass but they are muchmore annoying to build with and tend to seize so can make truing difficult later. If the wheel is built well there shouldn't really be any durability issues though.
Right that settles it - brass nipples it is then.
Given the choice between slightly less weight and significantly more maintenance, I'll stick with hefty but reliable every time. That said, every little helps though.
You could always make up for some of the extra weight of brass nipples by using Velo plugs instead of rim tape 🙂
alloy=poop brass=good. they might be lighter but they sure are softer. and if your wanting a strong tight all mountain wheel stick to brass. i have see too many alloy ones sheer to ever trust them. they seem to corrode more after time too. so go brass.
joe x
choose lighter tyres instead.