Berd PolyLight Spokes. Silly-light Polymer Spokes

[MaraudingWalrus]

Yes the world of not metal spokes has arrived again. It's the mid 90s all over again! Hopefully with less explode-y-ness than fiber flight spokes!

Berd PolyLight Spokes.




Just got some in to rebuild a set of ENVE SES3.4s using these for a customer. We'll see how they go!


Will post a few pictures in a little while as I get going on them.

[thegunner]

i want to hear what you think once they're built

have a set of hubs that need a rebuild

[Burnette]

Originally Posted by MaraudingWalrus

Yes the world of not metal spokes has arrived again. It's the mid 90s all over again! Hopefully with less explode-y-ness than fiber flight spokes!

Berd PolyLight Spokes.




Just got some in to rebuild a set of ENVE SES3.4s using these for a customer. We'll see how they go!


Will post a few pictures in a little while as I get going on them.

It's all about the aero now baby. Are those puppies flat or round profile? They look round and very thing at the rim.

[MaraudingWalrus]

Some photos. It's worth noting that the scale photos are on a crappy scale that doesn't have tenths of decimals. And I am unsure of its rounding protocol. So I suppose that could be 1.4g on the Berd, and 4.5g on the Sapim. Need to grab a better scale and check to get better numbers.


Sapim CX Ray from front wheel

Berd Spoke for front wheel

Nipple end, has threaded metal section inside the polymer end

Hub end is a loop that gets pulled through the spoke hole on the hub

Flexible

This comes with; blue loctite, which their instructions recommend, as well as tiny wire to use to pull the loop through the hub, small rod-like sections of the material, and some leather to use in conjunction with a tool to prevent wind-up even my fancy Roval wind-up prevention tool won't work, because it could damage the polymers) .

From their instructions:

5. Lace the wheel using the desired lacing pattern. Make sure to only engage the first few threads of
each nipple to allow all spokes threads to reach the nipples.
6. Prior to beginning tensioning, apply blue Loctite to the threads of all the spokes. This will ensure the
nipples do not loosen during use. Wipe off excess Loctite after the nipples are tightened.



This smaller rod-like section of the material gets inserted into the loop and is what holds the spoke head end into the hub; works on J bend or straight pull.

[Tickdoc]

This post gives me anxiety.

[montag]

...is that a shoelace?

[ergott]

I inquired a while back and they said they weren't selling spokes, only building in house. How did you get them?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[MaraudingWalrus]

Originally Posted by ergott

I inquired a while back and they said they weren't selling spokes, only building in house. How did you get them?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I inquired a couple weeks ago and they sold me spokes. I dealt with Brad. I have no idea how many people work there, but I'd bet you'll talk to Brad.

[MaraudingWalrus]

Originally Posted by Tickdoc

This post gives me anxiety.

Me too...fortunately the owner of these wheels is a very small lady, so I am less afraid than if was going to ride them!

[MaraudingWalrus]

Originally Posted by montag

...is that a shoelace?

A fancy one, perhaps.

[pbarry]

What could go wrong? Rhetorical question..

[jumphigher]

They sound cool to me, please do update once you've built up the wheels.

[MaraudingWalrus]

I have laced one wheel (the front). It is now 615g, compared to 675 before I disassembled it. So, 60g for the mathematically challenged, which suggests 3g a spoke here, which lends credence to my thought on my scale's rounding abilities. Here are some photos.














The first picture shows using small (garrote gauge?) wire to pull the loop of the end of the spoke through the hub. It took a surprising amount of force to pull them through - my hands and arms are tired after having done it. It required looping the wire around a hand (gloved) and pulling quite hard.

Then a rod is slipped through the loop on the end of the spoke, and then the spoke is pulled to capture the rod as such.

Lacing is tricky, perhaps the second will be easier (I suspect it will) as it requires threading only the smallest amount of threads of the nipple possible onto the spoke, as these spokes have a huge amount of stretch at the onset. I was barely able to get the last one threaded on.

I will now tension and true a little bit, but not much as I haven't made the required padded pliers to hold onto the spoke to prevent twisting. A trip to the store tomorrow to grab a set of somewhat expendable pliers is in order.

[dgauthier]

Originally Posted by MaraudingWalrus

Some photos. It's worth noting that the scale photos are on a crappy scale that doesn't have tenths of decimals. And I am unsure of its rounding protocol. (...)

You could always weigh 10 identical length spokes together and divide. It won't improve the scale's accuracy, but it will reveal tenths of a gram.

Originally Posted by MaraudingWalrus

I have laced one wheel (the front). (...)

Pretty neat, but the little cross rods aren't very cosmetically attractive. Is there a reason you couldn't put them on the inside of the hub flange?

And yes, I think lacing a wheel with fancy shoelaces to save 60 grams is *perfectly fine*...

[MaraudingWalrus]

Originally Posted by dgauthier

You could always weigh 10 identical length spokes together and divide. It won't improve the scale's accuracy, but it will reveal tenths of a gram.

I weighed the complete wheel before and after, only change being spokes. 60g less /20 spokes = 3g.

Originally Posted by dgauthier

Pretty neat, but the little cross rods aren't very cosmetically attractive. Is there a reason you couldn't put them on the inside of the hub flange?

Eh, no particular reason beyond that generally radially laced wheels are heads out; these spokes are considerably thicker than a regular spoke, so I also didn't want to run into any clearance issues either, this way is a smidge slimmer than heads in.