TI Spokes

[jhat]

A friend asked me to build a 29er wheel with titanium spokes which I have not built with before. Does anyone know if I size the spoke like normal or slightly shorter to account for elongation?

[sales guy]

depends on the spoke manufacturer.
DT was the same size as normal
Marwi was 1mm shorter than normal.
Not sure on Pilar and the others

[oldpotatoe]

A friend asked me to build a 29er wheel with titanium spokes which I have not built with before. Does anyone know if I size the spoke like normal or slightly shorter to account for elongation?

DON'T DO IT!! Ti spokes, if you can get them to work w/o the nipple gauling, will make for a really funky, weird, soft ride. PLUS finding the right tension is a chore. NOT worth the $, answers no question, solves no problem, A REAL PITA.

[zap]

The failure I encountered was that the spoke heads would break off at the elbow. I suspect the ti spoke became brittle at the elbow as the spoke moved in the hub hole during use.

Agree with oldpotatoe about nipple gauling and finding the right tension.

[Black Dog]

Like old spud said. Hard to build, frozen nipples, bad ride, lots of broken spokes. What advantage does your friend think she will receive? If it is mass then we are talking about a few grams on the parts of the bike that connect you to the ground. :eek:

[jhat]

He was going to anodize them to add some color to his incoming ti frame. Thanks guys, it is now a dead issue. I was definitely not looking forward to the mess antisieze makes.

[Gummee]

I built up a few pair of rims 'back when' Ti spokes ride really soft. Like 'I've got a flat!' soft.

They're really light.

...but a complete PITA to build with. Then they break after a few years of riding them

HTH

M

(I've got a bunch of em if someone wants to experiment. Marwi non-anodized. Most were 32h 600 into GL330 rims with some Am Classic 8sp FW to CXP30. Pay shipping and they're yours)

[Tony]

Had a pair of 26er wheels built by Colorado Cyclists in 1997, Ti spokes for the front and Ti for the rear, non drive side. They have held up well over the years. However the Mavic rim is showing signs of cracking where the steel spokes are pulling through the rim in several places. The wheel can't be trued as the nipples are frozen to the ti spokes.