Spoke length question (wheelbuilding)

Hiya peeps,

First off I must say I'm extremely grateful to Damon Rinard, Sheldon Brown
and some others for the great effort put into Spocalc. Due to their efforts,
I found out in no time that changing my current Surly 1x1 hub to White
Industries' Eccentric hub would mean my current spokes are 1.7mm too long.

I am thinking of re-using the spokes, but have yet to remove tyre and
rimtape to see if the spokes might poke out too much (cuz I still need to
ride). If anyone has been through something similar, I'd appreciate your
thoughts.

Further info: current spoke length 3 cross for Surly is calculated to
264.4mm but I think my spokes are 264mm? White Ind Eccentric needs 262.7 for
3 cross. Mavic X517's for both.

Many thankies,

bloocow

bloocow wrote:
First off I must say I'm extremely grateful to Damon Rinard, Sheldon Brown
and some others for the great effort put into Spocalc. Due to their efforts,
I found out in no time that changing my current Surly 1x1 hub to White
Industries' Eccentric hub would mean my current spokes are 1.7mm too long.

I am thinking of re-using the spokes, but have yet to remove tyre and
rimtape to see if the spokes might poke out too much (cuz I still need to
ride). If anyone has been through something similar, I'd appreciate your
thoughts.

I've used a strange mixture of spokes on one wheel, strictly for hack
purposes. The spokes came from a cheapish (but not so cheap they were
all the same length) dished rear wheel, and I needed to build a
non-dished SS rear. The spokes were approximately 2mm different (shorter
on the drive side). I got away with using the longer ones as the
"outside" spokes and the shorter ones as "inside" spokes on the front
hub. In your case this would mean sorting the spokes into two halves -
longer and shorter. What I mean by "outside" spokes is a spoke which is
inserted through the hub from the inside to the outside. They seemed
pretty even when I'd finished the wheel.

Further info: current spoke length 3 cross for Surly is calculated to
264.4mm but I think my spokes are 264mm? White Ind Eccentric needs 262.7 for
3 cross. Mavic X517's for both.

Sounds like you'll get away with it if the existing spokes aren't
sticking out when you take the rim tape off. I wouldn't be at all
surprised if you discovered up to a 2mm variation between the smallest
and largest of your existing spokes. If they stick out a bit, you can
just file them down. Also, whenever I have had to replace a spoke, I've
measured the old one, and usually had a choice between slightly longer
or shorter. I've always chosen and never had a problem with slightly longer.

--
Jim Price

http://www.jimprice.dsl.pipex.com

Conscientious objection is hard work in an economic war.