The Price of Spokes and matters arising

I've been online tracking down some DT Swiss Chanpion spokes. I visited two
"reputable" online bike parts suppliers in the USA that I've dealt with for
other parts with satisfying results.
One has spoke plus nipple for 39 cents apiece and the other has them for 70
cents apiece. I haven't got a clue which of the two is a realistic price.
I'm concerned that the spoke with the lower price may emanate from the Great
Far Eastern Bicycle Spoke Company in Guangzhou rather than the DT Swiss
factory.
What do other RBTers expect to pay for a straight 14 gauge 258mm DT Swiss
spoke plus nipple?

Moving right along, I notice that Mr Petersen of Rivendell bicycle works is
offering a pair of Phil Wood hubs. They have the same flange height front
and rear and the rear hub is a spin-on freewheel type at about one third the
price of a Phil freehub-and-cassette type. Grant and his wheel builder make
an interesting case for a tourer wheelset based on these hubs.
Here's some of the points Grant makes mixed in with some of my own.

(1) Shimano make a number of inexpensive 6 and 7speed freewheels in a
variety of sizes ranging from 14-28 to 13-34. An outfit named IRD is also
offering purportedly good freewheels and there is also Falcon who seem to
supply the cheaper end of the market.

(2) A rear wheel for a 6 speed can be built with zero dish and equal
left/right spoke tension and a 7 speed has minimal dish and only a couple of
percent difference in spoke tension.

(3) With the same flange height front and rear and zero or minimal dish on
the rear, a wheelset can be built with just one spoke length which makes the
spares situation easier on a long tour.

(4) Phil hubs aren't the lightest but they have easily replaceable cartridge
bearings and a fat 15mm axle.

(5) I want to use friction bar-end shifters on the grounds that the only
thing that can break is the cable. I won't have to hunt about for a shifter
that will index seven cogs.

(6) The bike I most enjoy riding is a little old steel frame MTB with a
cheap Shimano Alivio 21 speed groupset. I have others ranging from a Deore
LX 27 speed to a Rohloff 14 geared hub but I always seem to have the right
gear on the 21 speed. (The Rohloff is essentially unfixable outside the
factory in Germany so I don't altogether trust it any further than I can
walk) The downside of my 21 speed bike is that the hubs are cheapish
Taiwanese jobs meant for disc brakes so I have dish at the front to
accomodate the non-existant brake disc and a rear hub rather narrow between
flanges. A little work with a geartrain calculator suggests that I can
achieve very similar gearing with a selected 7 speed freewheel.

So, am I crazy for wanting to turn the clock back twenty years or more?

PH

Per Peter Howard:
So, am I crazy for wanting to turn the clock back twenty years or more?

I'd say no need. Seems to me like the stuff that was available
then is still available now - and cheaper than it was then.

My StumpJumper, for instance, cost $850 in 1982 dollars.

That inflates to somewhere between $1,800 and $3,600 depending on
whose calcs one uses.
--
PeteCresswell

On Mar 4, 9:39*pm, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote:
Per Peter Howard:

So, am I crazy for wanting to turn the clock back twenty years or more?

I'd say no need. * Seems to me like the stuff that was available
then is still available now - and cheaper than it was then.

My StumpJumper, for instance, cost $850 in 1982 dollars.

That inflates to somewhere between $1,800 and $3,600 depending on
whose calcs one uses.
--
PeteCresswell

Mr. Woods been sellin those freewheels at discount for several years
now. Mr. Grant done bought a load at less than discount and is now
gonna make a bundle screwing you're little behind.

I am snot gonna read the PR. Ima goona do the dishes and retyre.
and Ima snot qualified to comment butbutbut anyway duh frewheel works
real good ifn you not carrying a load or weigh more than 75-80 pounds
and swear nottah bounce in and out of large potholes at speed caws the
freewheel bends axles. Freewheel with a 180 pound rider ridden into a
pothole will bend maybe. Even a Wheel Mfg solid axle bends. An
unobtanium Japanese 1978+ steel hollow axle bends.
SO! you will suffer bent axles.
On the other foot, the freewheel spins delightfully frictionless
compared to the freehub's extra bearings and grease drag. Ima not sure
that has empirical impact in Earth's gravity but the Fr/FH is almost
sensuous compared...
However, notice most likely on dear Sherman Brown's website for
freehuBs and cogs, the vast variety of FACTORY CALCULATED gear teeth
and cogs available in freehub BUT NOT FREEWHEEL.In freewheel, limited
specific terrain gearing and bike component swapping, no cog
substitution, no custom design like 2 most used cogs in the middle not
one or ...

beautiful hubs but hubs wear out and at what $$$? hubs get stolen
and....

Peter Howard wrote:
I've been online tracking down some DT Swiss Chanpion spokes. I visited
two "reputable" online bike parts suppliers in the USA that I've dealt
with for other parts with satisfying results.
One has spoke plus nipple for 39 cents apiece and the other has them for
70 cents apiece. I haven't got a clue which of the two is a realistic
price.
I'm concerned that the spoke with the lower price may emanate from the
Great Far Eastern Bicycle Spoke Company in Guangzhou rather than the DT
Swiss factory.
What do other RBTers expect to pay for a straight 14 gauge 258mm DT
Swiss spoke plus nipple?[...]

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

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

On Mar 4, 6:28 pm, "Peter Howard" wrote:
I've been online tracking down some DT Swiss Chanpion spokes. I visited two
"reputable" online bike parts suppliers in the USA that I've dealt with for
other parts with satisfying results.
One has spoke plus nipple for 39 cents apiece and the other has them for 70
cents apiece. I haven't got a clue which of the two is a realistic price.
I'm concerned that the spoke with the lower price may emanate from the Great
Far Eastern Bicycle Spoke Company in Guangzhou rather than the DT Swiss
factory.
What do other RBTers expect to pay for a straight 14 gauge 258mm DT Swiss
spoke plus nipple?


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.

"Tom Sherman" wrote in message
...

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

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

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. 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.

PH

Check this catalogue http://www.universalcycles.com/
Prices are in equilibrium.
Last odered
DT Silver Champion Spokes $47.60 1 $47.60

DT Swiss Brass Nipples
2.0 x 16mm Silver Brass $0.16 @ 100 = $16

"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?

On Mar 5, 9:40*am, "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?

TURD!

On Mar 5, 6:40*am, "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?

He mailed 'em to me still in the hub, along with the ERD of the rim he
was using. I figured, Hey, good enough for Jobst...