spoke fitting

[mig]

have never seen this type of thing before.

as they are bladed spokes i'm left wondering of these were a less than successful idea at some point in time.

anyone seen them in the flesh?

the 'ties' don't look very robust either!

[Jamesh]

Not at all!

Bladed spikes are very common on high end wheel sets.

They give a light aerodynamic advantage.

The tying of spokes is less common as is intended to stiffen up a wheel as the length of unsupported spoke is less. It is rarely done tbh.

Finally that's a unsually large number of spokes to be bladed normally 20/24 or 24/28 wyoyld be the norm.

Cheers James

[Brucey]

tying and soldering not often done these days on any wheel. However the oddest thing about those wheels is probably the spokes, which are headless.

cheers

[mig]

yes it's the headless aspect i mean.

how securely do they fit long term?

[Brucey]

If it is done well they ought to be secure in normal use. However if it is done badly (i.e. the joggle length doesn't quite match the flange width, and NB it can't ever be perfect else you would never get the spoke into the flange...?) then the tension load of the spoke at which it starts to pull through is much lower than that of a conventional spoke. IMHO this scheme is inherently unsatisfactory because it may prevent proper stress-relief of the wheels.

In this case the reason for doing it this way was presumably so that the aero spokes could be fitted (IIRC these spokes were made that way by the manufacturer) but IMHO the best place for spokes of this sort is as temporary driveside replacements, where it is not expected that you stress-relieve them and expect them to last for ever.

cheers

[Jamesh]

Well that's unusual....

Good question to humble a few wannabie mechanics I think lol!

Cheers James

[NickJP]

The headless spokes are because the spoke holes in the hub are not slotted to allow the blade section of the spoke to pass through. It would have made more sense to build with that hub using CX-Ray spokes, which have a blade section of 0.9mm x 2.2mm, and thus will pass through an un-slotted spoke hole.

[Brucey]

the spokes in question are (I think) Hoshi's. They may predate sapim cx-ray.

cheers

[Gattonero]

The headless spokes are because the spoke holes in the hub are not slotted to allow the blade section of the spoke to pass through. It would have made more sense to build with that hub using CX-Ray spokes, which have a blade section of 0.9mm x 2.2mm, and thus will pass through an un-slotted spoke hole.

Yep, and the faff of correctly bending the spokes can be avoided with a good dressing file to slot the hub. Should one REALLY want to go for them spokes.
By the way, the only real advantage of "flat" spokes is the ability of control a high spoke tension while building the wheel. Lightweight spokes with 1.5mm round middle section suffer a lot from torsion, while a flat section can be controlled a lot easier.