Posted this once already and its lost in the ether somewhere. Anyway…

Having issues with spokes approx 2-3mm too long, they are being pulled back through the nipple once they reach the end of the thread.

I’m not an experienced wheelbuilders so I don’t know what is the norm but a couple of things stand out.

Firstly, I ordered two different lengths of 2mm difference, yet they all appear to be the exact same length, excluding a random handful which are maybe 1mm shorter at most.

Secondly, because they are double butted they increase in width at the threads. However they do this half way up the threaded area leaving only 4mm of useable thread. Given the inconsistency in length this doesn’t leave much margin for error! (there is only around 4mm of thread in the nipple)

These are supposedly Sapim Race spokes (and nipples) so not cheap. From a well known bike shop, arrived in no original packaging.

Is this normal?

Image below showing the threads.

Is this normal?

No

This is a Sapim Race spoke…

Never seen that before, I assume they’ve been cut to length by someone that didn’t know there’s a limit to how much you can shorten a butted spoke?

Cutting spokes to order isn’t uncommon but that’s not OK at all, full refund time.

I assume they’ve been cut to length by someone that didn’t know there’s a limit to how much you can shorten a butted spoke?

Looks like that to me and might explain the random lengths.

I wonder if the shop is any good at fitting Invisiframe?

This is a Sapim Race spoke…

That’s more like what I expected to see.

I did suspect they had been cut and potentially re-threaded.

Thanks all.

Actually really quite annoyed to discover this while putting in the final touches of a wheel build, on a pair.

The spokes pictured appear to have been threaded onto the butted section

Sapim race uncut spokes come 3 lengths with the butting in the appropriate place

270-310
240-270
???-240

I would guess somebody has tried threading some 270-310 to 260 or similar. Or just cut and re threaded some 270s-260s etc.

I would contact the seller, they should never have been done like that or sold

I stock Sapim uncut spokes and have a spoke machine, not just talking out my arse.

Spokes in question are 272 and 274.

Is it a Sapim spoke? Could also be a DT comp or another double butter spoke that has been re threaded over the butting.

Moot point what kind of spoke it was, its wrong and useless as is.

It should be a Sapim Race spoke. That’s what I ordered and what the order confirmation says. They arrived in not much more than an envelope so could be anything.

What logo on the spokes. The sapim I have are stamped down by the elbow and the DTs are stamped on the head

Name and shame? That is the kind of thing that would make me want to avoid said shop.

Send them back, no point putting a wheel together with threads like that, whenever i’m getting spokes i pay normal prices and get them from SpokesFromRyan (RyanBuildsWheels), usually get them quick and no issues ever.

But back to the original question, yes they would build into a wheel, they would work, but there is a higher potential for issues, i’d also be concerned about the lack of butting at one end for their actual reason for being used, effectively you’ve got a lot of stress at an area that’s not 1.8 rather than 2mm

What logo on the spokes.

On inspection they do have Sapim written down by the elbow. Quite badly printed and hard to make out

no point putting a wheel together with threads like that

They’re already built, minus a few spokes that failed while doing the final tensioning… The rest will be coming back out, even if they were sound I’d always be questioning the integrity.

If you get your spoke lengths bob-on the great advantage, aside from having the correct amount of thread in the nipple, is that just by twiddling up with a nipple driver the wheel half tensions itself.

Worth getting right, but I never manage it. If the lengths are a bit out when tightening with the driver you get the last few not screwing home. I undo all on that side and try again to nipple driver ejection on each nipple but then undo one turn. Proceeding in that manner you still get to wheel half built just by the driver. Takes trial and error to find how many turns to undo for your spoke mis-length but you get there.

Obviously there are limits on how wrong your spoke lengths can be before you get problems at the thread.

Those spokes look odd, like someone is low on the learning curve with a Phil Wood cutting machine.

They’re just damaged spokes now though, they’ve managed to put the step down part through the threader and so weakened that part, which will be right at the nipple, so would hazard a guess that you’ll hear a couple of pings early on if you use these for anything like DH/Enduro trails, or rough landings.