Spokes And Nipples

[isitafox]

I've just stripped my echo tr front wheel down so the hub can be sent back to tartys to be rebuilt in a new wheel and just wondered if it's worth keeping the old spokes and nipples from the wheel. Will they come in handy for anything, can they even be reused safely??

And another thing, as it was a disc front wheel one side of the hub was built with straight spoke (is this radial?) and where they go through the hub they've left little humps all the way around as if the spoke was so tight it was almost pulling through the aluminium, if you understand that, is it safe to be rebuilt?

I only got the wheel built up at the start of the year and it's not been ridden much, maybe once or twice a week for a couple of hours if I'm lucky!

[Mark W]

The 'bumps' and grooves are caused by the spokes digging in - this is a normal thing (steel spoke under high tension vs. aluminium flange = only one winner). It'll happen to every hub, it's just how it goes! It's not a bad thing, and it should be safe to re-use.

Regarding the old spokes - unless the build is the same as the previous one, chances are they won't be the right length. Equally, spokes work harden so they tend to become more likely to snap as time goes by. If they've also got to be bent into a different shape (i.e. different crosses from how they were previously laced), it'll exacerbate that and lead to more of them snapping faster. Not really worth it in all honesty!

[isitafox]

Cheers Mark, considered having a go at building a wheel in the future but I think if I ever do I'll order the right bits for the job at the time then.

At least I can sort getting a front wheel ordered and send this off to be built up now, just gotta decide on a frame to put it on!!