12 gauge spokes "where to buy"

Grab a dirt cheep micrometer from Harbor Freight. Use this....

https://www.google.com/search?q=spo...fficial&client=firefox-a&channel=np&source=hp

There are tons of these calculators! A reputable spoke merchant can help too.

Now here is the simple part and it is really that simple.. Measure your hub flange and get the inside diameter of the rim your done.

If you are using a new rim they often have a label on them or can be very easily Googled.


Here is the part I figured out on my own. Proper measured spokes do not have to be cut lol. I don't use a truing stand. How you ask? Well I had a extra wide rim for one. It was also new. Did a slight adjustment at the rim seam nothing else.

Proper measured spokes are all the same length ... If you are to make a ton of laps around the wheel and observe the spokes coming through the nuts on the end. Keep them the same. Just be patient..

My rear wheel was a good square wheel. The front one needed to be dished to fit my down hill forks a tiny bit. I mounted those into the forks and worked it over.

Rear wheel simply put it together and it was a perfect fit.

Proper preload is key to a well built rim. Spokes that are loose break and can also get looser quickly . The uni-body structure is gone then as well. When they are done right they WILL stay tight.

The very first wheels I ever built have never needed a follow up . They are Holmes Hobbies Sapiens. In wait for it.....

None other than 13 gauge spokes tied up to a 10+ horse power motor with over ten thousand miles on them. Still as tight as day one.. Not a thing wrong with them. I had a ton of doubt yet they have been simply flawless.

Some of the cheep Chinese hub flanges are sometimes too thin on some hubs. That can be troublesome as they will put unnecessary stress on a spoke at the bend where they sit.

I was very lucky my hub flanges are perfect.

The fellow at Holmes makes custom wheels for high power hard torque electrics etc and no body is complaining that I ever knew of? His passion is the machines that we are playing with! I did enjoy talking to him when he suggested what I am currently using. I love my wheels set!!

http://wheelfanatyk.blogspot.com/2009/06/wheel-building-tip-no-3-stop-spoke-wind.html article re: spoke wind up and tools.







Here has been the best "investment" in my wheel building career:
A roll of electrical tape, and an assortment of cheap pliers and dykes. I have several spoke clamps that suit different moods and spoke gauges.

Wrap the jaws of the pliers well, and if you feel like it, add a rubber band to the handles to make them semi-automatic. Clamp the spoke when turning the nipple with the spoke key! True the wheel at a medium tension, then very deliberately make 1/4 turns all the way around (may require multiple passes to raise full tension, might be good to do 1/8 turns on last round to full tension) preventing any spoke wind up. "Pre stress" the wheel by gripping pairs of spokes with your hands and pulling them. (some say that's not necessary). It is necessary to make sure there is no torque in the spokes though (I like to relieve them by placing the wheel on a rubber floor mat and sitting on it, rotating and repeating till I'm sure no spokes will "ping" when the rim tape and tube & tire are on. If all is done well, there will be no ping when testing. Rubbing alcohol helps lubricate old spokes that might bind a little. It evaporates away in hours to a day, and is cheaper than "spoke prep."

That is interesting? In all my years I never had or saw a need for those? I really don't think it is that complicated? Ha Ha IMO. I very simply on my fresh built wheel just used a screw driver till it just began to slip inside the rim at the spoke heads.

Also would periodically flex and make the spokes relax where they cross as I went. ''for new ones'' A old wheel might give some love taps where the bend is and tension would be followed up on for a few miles. ''Bent rim''

On a new spoke set once my screw driver lost it's grip , A couple more laps with a real spoke wrench done. Even in my earliest days of fixing stuff I trued many wheels with just a spoke wrench and nothing else. Still do it that way. Never had a problem? Well yet lol. Looks like it would work tho!

Might be kewl for rusted up seized spokes? Shoot in which case I think an hour rebuilding the wheel with new spokes would be the smartest thing? I see the article suggest a back up wrench tool to hold the spoke could not hurt I wreckon. Mebbe I will start using such a thing. Meh why start just yet

Here is a spoke wrench that will always work in the worst of any conditions and I have used these as my wrench of choice a great many times!! This thing absolutely kicks butt..

If used properly in my experience no problem as they barely marred up where a cheap ''Chinese'' official spoke wrench would most definitely butcher a spoke nut anyway....Seen some of those quit working before. Curse words lol

These things by Snap On are the best Channel Lock, and Mack Tools has a perfect nice one as well. I don't think the likes of Harbor Freight will have them any time soon? They are very well made! http://www.amazon.com/Channellock-4...004SBCR/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_i/185-8951454-1099046

The pliers are used to hold the spokes, not the nipples, but if you don't mind destroying a warped nipple to get it off, about any pliers or small crescent wrench will do to get it loose.

Spokes (and shipping!) are expensive to me, and I deal with a lot of bikes that sit in storage or get used heavily in humid/wet conditions. I can't respoke a wheel just because it sat up a little or got out of true. That's silly. The spoke-grabber works wonders. The rubbing alcohol does a LOT to prevent seizing, too. I like the one someone made by sawing off the "needles" on a needle-nose pliers, leaving a lighter tool with short jaws. I'll make one for my next wheel job. I have one now that is half done (one jaw got broken off twisting a piece of scrap metal).

I don't use the spoke grabber the whole time, just when it starts getting tensioned up harder and I start working on fine truing, unless the spokes are something like the crappy old Schwinn spokes on a 27" wheel, or the double butted spokes (great ride, more work to build). I had a road race wheel years ago with some super thin double butted spokes. They were like guitar strings! The bladed spokes have to be held, too, or they will turn into expensive macaroni.

I've had the best luck with Spokey ("square drive" with round grips, grab 3 sides and a little more) and Park 3 way wrenches.

*Beware, the chinese universal types often have a 15 size that does NOT correspond to all 15 size nipples. The good ones have a 15 and 15 E marked on them.

You can get a Problem Solvers nipple driver. There are also z-handled spoke drivers.



Finding the right bit (long flat screwdriver) and using it in a cordless screwdriver also works, with careful attention. I just use a "stubby" screwdriver that I modified by grinding the edges of the blade (sides) to fit in the spoke hole. The magnetized end helps also.

Here's a home-made starter-spoke-nipple-driver for deep v rims http://urbanvelo.org/diy-nipple-driver/ Made from an old spoke

I just use a short section of a spoke, thread a nipple on it, stick into the spoke hole and hold the cut-off spoke while applying the nipple driver. Swap with the actual spoke, and spin it home.

http://www.amazon.com/Park-Tool-Triple-Wrench-Nipple/dp/B000WY8LSM/ref=pd_sbs_sg_1

My all time favorite for road bikes

No bike shop has ever worked on anything I own. Save I let them overhaul a wheel once ''spokes''. They did a terrible job too. In my 100 thousand mile life time... one thing I have learned . Do It yourself! Danged est thing always happens . It Comes out right every time.

I will not ever let some one build a wheel for me again....Folks it is just too easy. It really is!! No crannies for me ether. I can make'um work. Just prefer sumthun better.

My spokes from Holmes are here already (even with Labor Day). Wow, that was fast! They were well packed, too, in cardboard wrap inside a USPS mailer envelope, with the nipples in a sealed bag. Good deal!

happycheapskate said:

I tried Danscomp, but they didn't have 262mm in 12g. No big deal.

I ordered from Holmes. $1 each with nipples, and $7 shipping. You have to use Paypal though, even with a card. Yuck.

Thanks for the info! I can fix my wheel for $15 instead of buying a new wheel (costs so much for gas and markup at LBS).

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