Forum menu
On a niceish wheelset, Would you be willing to spend the extra £50 to have CX-Rays?
Would you prefer brass nipples and a higher weight with potentially less problems or aluminium nipples and a lower weight with the potential for more problems?
I always build with brass nipples. I guess I've just seen too many issues with aluminium ones.
Is that an extra £50 for CX-Rays on both wheels, my answer would have been no but I’d expected the CX-Rays to be an extra £50 an end. I just built some wheels and stuck with Sapim Race, 28 spokes on the front, 32 rear and for the first time in a while chanced alloy nipples. I think the nipples are Alpina ABS and came recommended so I will see how that pans out.
All personal choice though
Yeah - £55 for the pair.
Would be totally unnecessary for me but I’d be tempted, it’s only a little bit more..
My most snappiest wheels of recent times were CX Rays which I found a bit disappointing, they just didn't last as well as I would have hoped. That said, if its on straight pulls you'd probably get better results from CX Rays than round spokes.
benpinnick
Subscriber
My most snappiest wheels of recent times were CX Rays which I found a bit disappointing, they just didn’t last as well as I would have hoped. That said, if its on straight pulls you’d probably get better results from CX Rays than round spokes.
It's J-bend spokes, so I'd agree that they're not doing anything for strength, but they would look good and save a little weight.
Dunno what rims you're getting but I've never had an issue with the DT Swiss squorx alloy nipples. As for spokes, I think i'd rather have £110 in my pocket.
Have just taken a chance on alloy nipples for the first time, anodised blue Sapim to be exact.
Think I read an impartial review which said they were made of harder alloy than 'standard' and the coating also helped stop them seizing. To be safe I used copper anti-seize on the spoke threads. It's something I've always done anyway so wasn't any extra faff or steps required, although my nice shot blasted black rims needed a proper clean at the end of the build to get all the coppery smudges off.
Can't comment on durability yet...
Alloy nipples? No. Just no...
I like CX Ray's so would pay the extra. My son was breaking a lot of spokes on his cx bike wheels but since changing to cx Ray's none. When I last bought some these guys were the cheapest and quick delivery to the UK.
https://www.wheelparts.shop/en/collection/
As for alloy nipples been running them since the early 90's and only ever had 1 failure so I still use them in all my new wheel builds.
Thanks to Pacerc100s link I decided to go against all of my better judgement and go with CX-rays and Sapim Polyax Alloy nipples.
The total cost was £40 higher than d-lights with brass nipples and £30 higher than d-lights with alloy nipples.
£30 for 70g of rolling weight, aye, I'll go for that. It should put the wheelset weight at 1.62kg with CK R45D hubs and Pacenti SL25 rims
At +£55 I would have gone for CX-Rays and brass nipples.
The budget option is Lasers, which are basically the blank spoke for a CX-Ray- it's the same thing but the CX gets additional forging to squish it. It's not as strong as a result and at some point sapim put a description on the website saying "not for mtb wheels" but I've used them in several mtb wheelsets and always been happy.
But definitely brass nipples, alu is just a plain bad idea.