spoke identification

Who/where is the manufacturer of spokes with the following
attributes? I see these spokes often on oem wheels on bikes:

- 14/15 butted, round
- Head stamped with "N" (w/o quotes)
- The thin center butted section looks ground, rather than drawn (i.e.
not shiny)

What's the quality/durability of these spokes?

On Aug 8, 6:51 pm, damyth wrote:
Who/where is the manufacturer of spokes with the following
attributes? I see these spokes often on oem wheels on bikes:

- 14/15 butted, round
- Head stamped with "N" (w/o quotes)
- The thin center butted section looks ground, rather than drawn (i.e.
not shiny)

What's the quality/durability of these spokes?

Here is a post with links to photos of those spokes:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...5f51b3595d29bc

Mine didn't last long at all, and while I weighed over 225lbs, I think
the spokes were of somewhat dubious quality.

Joseph

wrote:
On Aug 8, 6:51 pm, damyth wrote:
Who/where is the manufacturer of spokes with the following
attributes? I see these spokes often on oem wheels on bikes:

- 14/15 butted, round
- Head stamped with "N" (w/o quotes)
- The thin center butted section looks ground, rather than drawn (i.e.
not shiny)

What's the quality/durability of these spokes?

Here is a post with links to photos of those spokes:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...5f51b3595d29bc

Mine didn't last long at all, and while I weighed over 225lbs, I think
the spokes were of somewhat dubious quality.

Joseph



those things bear remarkable similarity to wheelsmiths. apart from the
letter used and the lack of polishing on the butted section of course.

damyth wrote:
Who/where is the manufacturer of spokes with the following
attributes? I see these spokes often on oem wheels on bikes:

- 14/15 butted, round
- Head stamped with "N" (w/o quotes)
- The thin center butted section looks ground, rather than drawn (i.e.
not shiny)

Nirosta.

What's the quality/durability of these spokes?

2.0-1.8-2.0mm, 3 years' all-around use in fullsusp. mtb under 62kg rider -
no problems.

--
Cheers
marcin

Marcin J. wrote:
damyth wrote:
Who/where is the manufacturer of spokes with the following
attributes? I see these spokes often on oem wheels on bikes:

- 14/15 butted, round
- Head stamped with "N" (w/o quotes)
- The thin center butted section looks ground, rather than drawn (i.e.
not shiny)

Nirosta.

thank you.


What's the quality/durability of these spokes?

2.0-1.8-2.0mm, 3 years' all-around use in fullsusp. mtb under 62kg rider -
no problems.

On Aug 9, 12:55 am, "Marcin J." wrote:
damyth wrote:
Who/where is the manufacturer of spokes with the following
attributes? I see these spokes often on oem wheels on bikes:

- 14/15 butted, round
- Head stamped with "N" (w/o quotes)
- The thin center butted section looks ground, rather than drawn (i.e.
not shiny)

Nirosta.

What's the quality/durability of these spokes?

2.0-1.8-2.0mm, 3 years' all-around use in fullsusp. mtb under 62kg rider -
no problems.

--
Cheers
marcin

No, I don't think this is correct. I don't speak German, but I
believe "Nirosta" is a trademark name for stainless steel by
ThyssenKrupp.

http://www.nirosta.de/Breitband.13.0.html

You'll notice on many German bike web sites they talk about "Speichen
DT Nirosta..."

On Aug 8, 9:51 am, damyth wrote:
Who/where is the manufacturer of spokes with the following
attributes? I see these spokes often on oem wheels on bikes:

- 14/15 butted, round
- Head stamped with "N" (w/o quotes)
- The thin center butted section looks ground, rather than drawn (i.e.
not shiny)

What's the quality/durability of these spokes?

OK, after much searching on the web, and for the sake of posterity,
it's possible these spokes are made by "Chun Nan" from Taiwan:
http://www.messingschlager.com/cnspoke/
The rightmost aero spoke pictured on that page has "N" stamped on the
spoke head. The middle butted spoke has a stylized "Cn" logo stamped
on the head however, which does not match mine. My only thought is
that the stylized logo is more recent than the "N," but perhaps the
spokes are still from the same manufacturer.

The English web site for Chun Nan is he
http://www.cnSpoke.com

Marcin J. wrote:
damyth wrote:
Who/where is the manufacturer of spokes with the following
attributes? I see these spokes often on oem wheels on bikes:

- 14/15 butted, round
- Head stamped with "N" (w/o quotes)
- The thin center butted section looks ground, rather than drawn (i.e.
not shiny)

Nirosta.

What's the quality/durability of these spokes?

2.0-1.8-2.0mm, 3 years' all-around use in fullsusp. mtb under 62kg rider -
no problems.

--
Cheers
marcin

PS.

Nirosta = NIchtROstende STAhl
google German-English translation: "No rust steel"

damyth wrote:
On Aug 8, 9:51 am, damyth wrote:
Who/where is the manufacturer of spokes with the following
attributes? I see these spokes often on oem wheels on bikes:

- 14/15 butted, round
- Head stamped with "N" (w/o quotes)
- The thin center butted section looks ground, rather than drawn
(i.e. not shiny)

What's the quality/durability of these spokes?

OK, after much searching on the web, and for the sake of posterity,
it's possible these spokes are made by "Chun Nan" from Taiwan:
http://www.messingschlager.com/cnspoke/
The rightmost aero spoke pictured on that page has "N" stamped on the
spoke head. The middle butted spoke has a stylized "Cn" logo stamped
on the head however, which does not match mine. My only thought is
that the stylized logo is more recent than the "N," but perhaps the
spokes are still from the same manufacturer.

The English web site for Chun Nan is he
http://www.cnSpoke.com

I doubled most of your search I think and yes - you are right. It seems that
Nirosta stands for stainless steel in German (sometimes in English too
http://www2.bsn.de/Cycling/tubulars.html and is derived from the brand
name of stainless steel produced by Krupp:
http://www.nirosta.de/index.php?id=9...5&tt_news =35
(in English)

But... my confusion comes from Polish Wikipedia (Polish is my home
language):
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szprycha
At the bottom you can see a list of spoke manufacturers including Nirosta
(identified by "N" logo). Moreover there are a lot of shops offering Nirosta
spokes in bicycle wheels (e.g.
http://www.volkswagen-bikes.de/trekk...ies.html?&L=1). Nirosta is
still Krupp's registered brand name (my guess). Thus when you see something
described as "Nirosta" especially with (R) behind it, it's probably made
from Krupp's steel. However I can't find "Nirosta" spokes offered separately
nor "Nirosta (R)" used in the spoke context.
Obviously the above dissertation doesn't answer the main question: "who
stands behind N?" It may not be connected with "Nirosta" at all. "N" spokes
are offered frequently with nowadays vehicles so it seems unlikely they are
NOS (older production). CnSpoke use Cn logo for some years. Perhaps "N"
spokes are produced by Krupp or someone else from their steel or more likely
they are OEM brand only of a bigger spoke manufacturer (cnSpoke?). Hmmm...
there are some bike shop workers they should know where these spokes come
from

--
Cheers
marcin

damyth wrote:
Who/where is the manufacturer of spokes with the following
attributes? I see these spokes often on oem wheels on bikes:
- 14/15 butted, round
- Head stamped with "N" (w/o quotes)
- The thin center butted section looks ground, rather than drawn (i.e.
not shiny)


What's the quality/durability of these spokes?

"Marcin J." wrote:
Nirosta.
2.0-1.8-2.0mm, 3 years' all-around use in fullsusp. mtb under 62kg rider -
no problems.

damyth wrote:
No, I don't think this is correct. I don't speak German, but I
believe "Nirosta" is a trademark name for stainless steel by
ThyssenKrupp.
http://www.nirosta.de/Breitband.13.0.html
You'll notice on many German bike web sites they talk about "Speichen
DT Nirosta..."

As I recall "N" is Chun Nan Jin Ji in Taiwan, perhaps with "Nirosta"
stainless steel or at least the name licensed??

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971