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HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,005
Seattle
This thread is going to be a lot less interesting than the title might suggest.



I've been building my own wheels for years, and have laced up 4 or 5 sets for myself. I've never broken a spoke on any of the wheels I built for myself. But in the last two rides I've been on, I've broken 3 FVCKING NIPPLES. At least two of them were directly caused by a stick going into my wheel, but still. It's really a PITA when you're running ghetto tubeless, and you need to take your tire off to replace the fvcking things. :disgust1:
 

jamesdc

Monkey
May 6, 2007
469
0
I only build my wheels with brass. They hold a higher tension, strip less, need to be tensioned less, and last alot longer. Has anyone ever tried working on a wheel with old alloy nipples? Its a huge pain in the ass especially if the spokes werent prepped, sometimes the nipples even shatter. I dont even know why people use the alloy nipples execpt you can get different colors. Just go with the tried and true dt swiss pro lock brass nipples.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,559
24,182
media blackout
one time a guy brought in some wheels for us to true... he told us he had "fixed" the spokes a few years ago, but it came out of true again. We were perplexed... then we discovered he JB Welded the nipples and spokes to the rim in an attempt to keep them in place. We asked if he wanted us to throw the wheel out, of if he'd do it on his own.
 

JRogers

talks too much
Mar 19, 2002
3,785
1
Claremont, CA
I only build my wheels with brass. They hold a higher tension, strip less, need to be tensioned less, and last alot longer. Has anyone ever tried working on a wheel with old alloy nipples? Its a huge pain in the ass especially if the spokes werent prepped, sometimes the nipples even shatter. I dont even know why people use the alloy nipples execpt you can get different colors. Just go with the tried and true dt swiss pro lock brass nipples.
Word. Brass all the way. On my HT, the wheels are really light- 517s, DB spokes, CK hubs and Al nipples. I've broken maybe 4 now- some from riding, some from truing. I am afraid to true them now as a few are stripped and many might crack. I am replacing all the Al ones with brass as they break and ride with a few spares in the Camelbak.
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,005
Seattle
Aluminum. I'm light, and can build wheels well, so I've never had a problem before now, and I've used aluminum nipples on all my builds. The wheelset in question is DT 5.1 rims with DT 2.0/1.8 spokes and Al nips on Hope Pro IIs. Maybe I'll go brass next time.
 

r464

Turbo Monkey
Oct 17, 2006
2,604
4
Earth
Always grease your nipples. You can prevent a lot of future heartache this way...
 

jdcamb

Tool Time!
Feb 17, 2002
19,799
8,383
Nowhere Man!
Aluminum. I'm light, and can build wheels well, so I've never had a problem before now, and I've used aluminum nipples on all my builds. The wheelset in question is DT 5.1 rims with DT 2.0/1.8 spokes and Al nips on Hope Pro IIs. Maybe I'll go brass next time.
Do you ride them during the winter?
 

BikeMike

Monkey
Feb 24, 2006
784
0
I figure the slight weight penalty of brass nipples is a good trade for greater nipple strength and less long term nipple hassle.
 

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
I have built alot of wheels, with brass, and with alloy, I dont have them break. First off, If someone wants alloy, then it needs to be an eyeletted wheel. If they dont have eyelets, I do everything I can to talk them into brass. Couple other things I do when I build a wheel, first off LUBE, very important, I usually use some Phil wood Tencaious oil, I lay out the spokes on a rag, and give the threads a light coat, then I lay out the nipples and give them a light coat as well. always check your tension, get the book out, look it up properly for what your building and check your tensions. Prestress your spokes while the wheel is still on the stand and you should be good. When your al done, a drop of spoke lock right on the spoke above the nipple and a good fast spin on the wheel, let sit overnight.

Two last things I do as a self quality control check, before I lace my wheel up, and after I figure spoke length, I take and individualy measure the length of every spoke one by one, and I also thread every spoke into the nipple it will use when I lace it, takes some extratime, but you find out right away if your going to have a problem or not with the threads, maybe you find a bad spoke, or a bad nipple that you may not have found while doing the build itself, I have found more than a few this way.





For whats its worth, My personal wheels, Mountain wheels are brass, roadie wheels are alloy.
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,005
Seattle
I have built alot of wheels, with brass, and with alloy, I dont have them break. First off, If someone wants alloy, then it needs to be an eyeletted wheel. If they dont have eyelets, I do everything I can to talk them into brass. Couple other things I do when I build a wheel, first off LUBE, very important, I usually use some Phil wood Tencaious oil, I lay out the spokes on a rag, and give the threads a light coat, then I lay out the nipples and give them a light coat as well. always check your tension, get the book out, look it up properly for what your building and check your tensions. Prestress your spokes while the wheel is still on the stand and you should be good. When your al done, a drop of spoke lock right on the spoke above the nipple and a good fast spin on the wheel, let sit overnight.

Two last things I do as a self quality control check, before I lace my wheel up, and after I figure spoke length, I take and individualy measure the length of every spoke one by one, and I also thread every spoke into the nipple it will use when I lace it, takes some extratime, but you find out right away if your going to have a problem or not with the threads, maybe you find a bad spoke, or a bad nipple that you may not have found while doing the build itself, I have found more than a few this way.





For whats its worth, My personal wheels, Mountain wheels are brass, roadie wheels are alloy.
I know how to build wheels. Like I said, at least 2 of my 3 breakages ever were due to a big stick going into my wheel while I was going at least 20mph. Just frustrating that I've had two freak accidents with nipples in two days.
 

jasride

Turbo Monkey
Sep 23, 2006
1,069
5
PA
I'm a soon to be first time wheel builder. I purchased the rim and hub I'm going to use and now just looking into the spokes and nips. One question about the nipples, if everyone is saying to use brass for the most part why are the alloy nipples almost double the price? Is it only because of weight? Just not sure what to use yet.
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,005
Seattle
I'm a soon to be first time wheel builder. I purchased the rim and hub I'm going to use and now just looking into the spokes and nips. One question about the nipples, if everyone is saying to use brass for the most part why are the alloy nipples almost double the price? Is it only because of weight? Just not sure what to use yet.
Price reflects cost to manufacture. Brass is cheaper than aluminum.


The only advantage of aluminum is that it's lighter.
 

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
I know how to build wheels. Like I said, at least 2 of my 3 breakages ever were due to a big stick going into my wheel while I was going at least 20mph. Just frustrating that I've had two freak accidents with nipples in two days.
If I incinuated you did not, I apologize, I was just listing what I did.




I'm a soon to be first time wheel builder. I purchased the rim and hub I'm going to use and now just looking into the spokes and nips. One question about the nipples, if everyone is saying to use brass for the most part why are the alloy nipples almost double the price? Is it only because of weight? Just not sure what to use yet.


Like HAB already said, Brass is cheaper, aluminum is lighter. Lighter nipples = lighter rotational mass. For a beginner, I would suggest that you go with brass
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,005
Seattle
If I incinuated you did not, I apologize, I was just listing what I did.
:cheers:
Like HAB already said, Brass is cheaper, aluminum is lighter. Lighter nipples = lighter rotational mass. For a beginner, I would suggest that you go with brass
:stupid:

The weight difference isn't very big, and there's a greater acceptable margin of error with brass. And cheaper is always good.
 

mattmatt86

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2005
5,347
10
Bleedmore, Murderland
Anyone know what nipples come stock with DT 14g Spokes? I'm about to build a set of Pro2s on 823s and I'm not sure if I should use the nips that came with the spokes or get something different.
 

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
Anyone know what nipples come stock with DT 14g Spokes? I'm about to build a set of Pro2s on 823s and I'm not sure if I should use the nips that came with the spokes or get something different.
Brass 12mm. the 823 reccomends using a 16mm nipple, Gimme a sec, I will link the good one from DT






EDIT..... DT site is moving stupid slow, basically, in brass for 16mm you have either the prolock<I dislike them myself> or you have the standard. The standard is the way to go, with a drop of spoke lock when your done. Just my personal expierence of having a tough time getting the tension all teh way up without too much effort on the Prolocks. That, and I have been using the standard now for quite sometime, and never had I had one that has "just come loose"


Have fun, 823's are a good one!!!
 
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