The Price of Spokes and matters arising

Per Peter Howard:
that dealing in bicycle stuff is a licence to get rich quickly and retire
early to a mansion on the Sydney Harbour foreshore. $2 a piece for a
spoke/nipple combo? Hah!

Don't feel *too* bad. Performance recently quoted me $2.00 USD
per spoke - without nipple.
--
PeteCresswell

$2!!!
use a fake ID and internet address

Peter Howard wrote:

"Tom Sherman" wrote in message
...

What about Wheelsmith spokes, made on the corner of 68th and Florist?


Well it's a little far to drop into the corner of 68th and Florist to
pick up a handful of Wheelsmith spokes in my lunch hour. I'm in
Australia and the only reason I want DT Swiss is because I used them
before.

Probably the best choice would be the least expensive quality spoke (e.g
Wheelsmith, Sapim, DT Swiss.

I have not been by the Wheelsmith factory in over 3 hours.

Here is one professional wheel-builder's opinion:
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/Wheels.asp.

The reason I'm buying online from the USA is because Australian
importers seem to believe that dealing in bicycle stuff is a licence to
get rich quickly and retire early to a mansion on the Sydney Harbour
foreshore. $2 a piece for a spoke/nipple combo? Hah!
I'm also wondering why an Australian made Velocity rim which is sold for
$60 US by online US suppliers costs $115 AU in my LBS. Ridiculous to
still pay less for a rim that took an 8,000 mile trip to the USA and
came back by Fedex.

That does seem silly that shipping a rim TWICE across the Pacific Ocean
would make it less expensive. The Free Market in action?

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

Clive George wrote:
"Hank" wrote in message
...

I buy all my spokes from Dave Ornee (a regular in this group) off
ebay. He's got 72 Sapim DB spokes + nipples for $40 shipped. Made in
Belgium, and Lance rode 'em.

You use second-hand spokes?

Who is Lance?

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

"Tom Sherman" wrote in message
...
Peter Howard wrote:

"Tom Sherman" wrote in message
...

What about Wheelsmith spokes, made on the corner of 68th and Florist?


Well it's a little far to drop into the corner of 68th and Florist to
pick up a handful of Wheelsmith spokes in my lunch hour. I'm in Australia
and the only reason I want DT Swiss is because I used them before.

Probably the best choice would be the least expensive quality spoke (e.g
Wheelsmith, Sapim, DT Swiss.

I have not been by the Wheelsmith factory in over 3 hours.

Here is one professional wheel-builder's opinion:
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/Wheels.asp.

The reason I'm buying online from the USA is because Australian importers
seem to believe that dealing in bicycle stuff is a licence to get rich
quickly and retire early to a mansion on the Sydney Harbour foreshore. $2
a piece for a spoke/nipple combo? Hah!
I'm also wondering why an Australian made Velocity rim which is sold for
$60 US by online US suppliers costs $115 AU in my LBS. Ridiculous to
still pay less for a rim that took an 8,000 mile trip to the USA and came
back by Fedex.

That does seem silly that shipping a rim TWICE across the Pacific Ocean
would make it less expensive. The Free Market in action?

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

In a rare lapse into the English language, Datakoll (see further down the
thread) put me onto http://www.universalcycles.com/ ,an online marketer I
was not previously aware of. I was able to do comparison shopping of DT vs
Wheelsmith. I see from the website pictures that Wheelsmith apparently
stamp a "W" on their spokeheads which at least puts Chinese forgers to more
trouble. I know that Wheelsmith are very well respected so I just might try
them out. Thanks too for the link to Peter White's opinion on the matter. Mr
White is a somewhat crankier and less well known version of the late Sheldon
and his opinions seem to be likewise backed up by experience.

PH
Going out now to collect my expensive Velocity rims from the LBS. They did
come in 24 hours by courier so that's a plus.

Yes you are crazy.

You are talking about a $300 hub set to save money on freewheels!?
When you are relying on companies called IRD and Falcon you need to
worry. People still make Campy NR brake hoods. They don't make them
for anyone else...
Same length spokes is a nice idea - that could be achieved on any hub
(at least with 3X). Spokes are so much better these days that
breaking one is less of a problem. But when you do, how are you going
to get that freewheel off?
What's the point of a symmetric wheel? You are wasting the strength
you could get from moving the left flange out and dishing...
A Shimano bar end has the same failure mode as a friction control.
Oh, I suppose the indexing could jam in such a way you could no longer
select friction, but that's unlikely and meanwhile you won't be
skipping the chain when you thought you had it centered because modern
shifting is so "soft".
You ought to be able to duplicate any 21 speed set up with a 7, 8, 9,
or 10 cog cassette, although it might take a little fiddling.
The Phil Wood hubs are a fine product, but so are the common
alternatives.

Per Tom Sherman:
Probably the best choice would be the least expensive quality spoke (e.g
Wheelsmith, Sapim, DT Swiss.

Anybody know where Union spokes are made?

Mine were $30 delivered (240mm, straight-gauge, box of 75
w/nipples).
--
PeteCresswell

On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:43:24 -0500, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:

Anybody know where Union spokes are made?

Mine were $30 delivered (240mm, straight-gauge, box of 75
w/nipples).

Dear Pete,

Marwi makes Union. They have bicycle-part production facilities in
Indonesia, Taiwan, Czech Republic, and the USA.

The stainless steel Union spokes are made in El Monte, California.

http://www.marwiusa.com/default.aspx...axid=35&tabid=

Cheers,

Carl Fogel