Sapim CX-Ray spokes.

[Sir Gregory Hall, Esq·]

Recently a spoke in the front wheel of my Flashpoint 60 carbon
wheelset broke in two near the hub were it crossed another spoke.

So, I ordered some replacement Sapim CX-Ray bladed spokes from
Wheelbuilders.com. I ordered five of three different length spokes
as the front wheel uses one length both sides but the back wheel
uses different (and slightly shorter) lengths depending upon drive
or non drive side I guess because of the way the wheel is dished.

The spokes arrived and I threaded the original spoke nipple onto
the threaded end of the old broken spoke upside-down so I could
pass the nipple through the hole in the aluminum rim and out to the
hole in the carbon wheel a distance of a 60mm. My plan was to
then thread the nipple onto the replacement spoke and off the old
broken spoke I was using to guide the nipple.

But, alas, the nipple wouldn't thread onto the new spoke more than
about a turn before it commenced to bind up. Well, it turns out there
are two commonly used spokes and spoke nipples 5 gauge and
6 gauge. It appears that the original Sapim spokes are 6 gauge while
the replacement Sapim spokes are 5 gauge. So I had to order some
5 gauge nipples from Wheelbuilders.com. They arrived via FedEx
yesterday and using the new nipple and the new spoke they threaded
together easily. So, I trued the wheel back up and am ready to go.

So what's five gauge and six gauge mean? Is it a measure of thread
diameter or thread pitch? With the naked eye I can't see a difference
at all so it's very minor. And, why don't they mark spokes with a 5 or a
6 so one wouldn't have to guess what nipple to use?

[atriage]

Post by Sir Gregory Hall, Esq·
Recently a spoke in the front wheel of my Flashpoint 60 carbon
wheelset broke in two near the hub were it crossed another spoke.

Probably cause of the awesome force you were feeding into the bike thru
your epoxy'd up shoes.

[Sir Gregory Hall, Esq·]

Post by atriage

Post by Sir Gregory Hall, Esq·
Recently a spoke in the front wheel of my Flashpoint 60 carbon
wheelset broke in two near the hub were it crossed another spoke.

Probably cause of the awesome force you were feeding into the bike thru
your epoxy'd up shoes.

It's not cheap shoes, dude. Have you ever really tried to pull
up as hard as you push down on the pedals? Well, I have and
I do and some shoes just can't take it. Especially, if they've
been ridden in the rain from time to time. The cheap factory
glue gets soft or something. Shoes for the mass market
are being made flimsier and flimsier. The manufacturers
seem to think that we all have extremely narrow feet and
weak legs. I bought a pair of 300 dollar Shimano road shoes
with carbon soles - the kind you can put in an oven to fit them
to your feet and the soles at the cleats came loose from those
too. I bet the more powerful pros have their shoes custom made
with the soles stitched on with some seriously thick thread.

[Mark J.]

Post by Sir Gregory Hall, Esq·

Post by atriage

Post by Sir Gregory Hall, Esq·
Recently a spoke in the front wheel of my Flashpoint 60 carbon
wheelset broke in two near the hub were it crossed another spoke.

Probably cause of the awesome force you were feeding into the bike thru
your epoxy'd up shoes.

It's not cheap shoes, dude. Have you ever really tried to pull
up as hard as you push down on the pedals? Well, I have and
I do and some shoes just can't take it. Especially, if they've
been ridden in the rain from time to time. The cheap factory
glue gets soft or something. Shoes for the mass market
are being made flimsier and flimsier. The manufacturers
seem to think that we all have extremely narrow feet and
weak legs. I bought a pair of 300 dollar Shimano road shoes
with carbon soles - the kind you can put in an oven to fit them
to your feet and the soles at the cleats came loose from those
too. I bet the more powerful pros have their shoes custom made
with the soles stitched on with some seriously thick thread.

I don't think you baked 'em long enough.

-Mark J.

[atriage]

Post by Mark J.

Post by Sir Gregory Hall, Esq·

Post by atriage

Post by Sir Gregory Hall, Esq·
Recently a spoke in the front wheel of my Flashpoint 60 carbon
wheelset broke in two near the hub were it crossed another spoke.

Probably cause of the awesome force you were feeding into the bike thru
your epoxy'd up shoes.

It's not cheap shoes, dude. Have you ever really tried to pull
up as hard as you push down on the pedals? Well, I have and
I do and some shoes just can't take it. Especially, if they've
been ridden in the rain from time to time. The cheap factory
glue gets soft or something. Shoes for the mass market
are being made flimsier and flimsier. The manufacturers
seem to think that we all have extremely narrow feet and
weak legs. I bought a pair of 300 dollar Shimano road shoes
with carbon soles - the kind you can put in an oven to fit them
to your feet and the soles at the cleats came loose from those
too. I bet the more powerful pros have their shoes custom made
with the soles stitched on with some seriously thick thread.

I don't think you baked 'em long enough.

He forgot to put frosting on them after he took them out of the oven.

[Phil H]

Post by Sir Gregory Hall, Esq·
Recently a spoke in the front wheel of my Flashpoint 60 carbon
wheelset broke in two near the hub were it crossed another spoke.
So, I ordered some replacement Sapim CX-Ray bladed spokes from
Wheelbuilders.com. I ordered five of three different length spokes
as the front wheel uses one length both sides but the back wheel
uses different (and slightly shorter) lengths depending upon drive
or non drive side I guess because of the way the wheel is dished.
The spokes arrived and I threaded the original spoke nipple onto
the threaded end of the old broken spoke upside-down so I could
pass the nipple through the hole in the aluminum rim and out to the
hole in the carbon wheel a distance of a 60mm. My plan was to
then thread the nipple onto the replacement spoke and off the old
broken spoke I was using to guide the nipple.
But, alas, the nipple wouldn't thread onto the new spoke more than
about a turn before it commenced to bind up. Well, it turns out there
are two commonly used spokes and spoke nipples 5 gauge and
6 gauge. It appears that the original Sapim spokes are 6 gauge while
the replacement Sapim spokes are 5 gauge. So I had to order some
5 gauge nipples from Wheelbuilders.com. They arrived via FedEx
yesterday and using the new nipple and the new spoke they threaded
together easily. So, I trued the wheel back up and am ready to go.
So what's five gauge and six gauge mean? Is it a measure of thread
diameter or thread pitch? With the naked eye I can't see a difference
at all so it's very minor. And, why don't they mark spokes with a 5 or a
6 so one wouldn't have to guess what nipple to use?
--
Sir Gregory

All the spokes I've ever bought came with the nipple. I'm surprised they sell them without it. Phil H

[Sir Gregory Hall, Esq·]

"Phil H" <***@gmail.com> wrote in message news:07e81b6b-a714-4bc0-918e-***@googlegroups.com...

//
// All the spokes I've ever bought came with the nipple. I'm
/// surprised they sell them without it. Phil H

Apparently the nipples not only come in different
gauges but different lengths as well 12mm, 14mm
etc. I would have ordered nipples along with the
spokes but I figured I could reuse the existing nipples
as there wasn't anything wrong with them.

Next time I have to order spokes I will, indeed, order
the nipples for them at the same time.