brians647

Is there a noticeable difference in ride or durabillity between steel and aluminum spoked wheels? I know that there's an obvious difference in weight (or so I would guess), but I'm not sure what other differences I need to be aware of before I buy new wheels.

Thanks in advance.

DiabloScott

It's just the nipples, not the spokes that are aluminum. They save a little weight, they strip and round off easier, after they corrode a little bit they'll creak.

cyccommute 

Well there would be if aluminum spokes were even made but since they aren't the point it moot.

If you are talking about the difference between aluminum spoke nipples and brass ones, there is no real difference except that brass is marginally heavier but it's not as delicate. Aluminum nipples also cost around $0.30 each compared to being provided with the spokes. For two 32 spoke wheels, that's an extra $20.

In terms of weight savings, you'll save around 12 g (total). Thats 0.4 oz. Cost per pound? $1000

sogood

Huh?

frischtr

I believe that there are many wheels out there with aluminum spokes... Campy Eurus and Shamal Ultras, for a couple...

badkarma

ksyrium sl's as well

On the nipples subject, I'm a big fan of brass. Brass nipples add a tiny amount of weight, but they're more durable than aluminum.

pelotonracer

Yeah... Mavic has Zicral (or is that the rim?) spokes, they use it on the Ksyrium SL and ES.

Any bladed spoke that's wider than maybe 3-4mm is AL.

Retro Grouch 

I wish that you were buying your aluminum nipples from me. The people that I sell to only pay me around 4 cents per each but at even that I still get an OK margin.

cuda2k

You sell spokes too? If you're selling aluminum nipples for .04, I'd like to know your your spoke prices.

brians647

Exactly. The differentiation was in ride quality (if any) from the Zonda (steel spokes) to the Eurus (aluminum spokes). I don't think that I'm willing to pay $200 more for the Eurus', but I wanted to know what I was giving up with a steel spoke. By the way, I got that info off spoke material from the Campy web site, "The Ultra Aero™ aluminium spokes are butted and the front wheel has radial spoking whereas the back wheel has G3™ spoking."

slvoid

Stainless cx-ray spokes are my personal fav now that I have em on my new wheels. They're scary thin and aerodynamic, especially compared to the humongous fat ones on the ksyrium es.

sogood

Plenty of people break SS spokes on forums, and mostly cheaper R500/550 amongst other brands. I have yet to see many people report breaking their high end wheels with alloy spokes. While the wisdom is that SS spokes are more durable than alloy.

brians647

Yeah, I know. I've watched your wheel shopping recently. I don't think I'll be going quite that high end! Now, if I lost 40lbs, maybe...

brians647

Geez. That's an interesting observation. I wonder if those steel spokes are mated to lower end rims and therefore are more stressed? I'd rather pay more for a wheel than deal with fixing stuff down the road. The hassle just stops being worth it ($200, in this case) pretty quickly.

CrimsonKarter21

Sapim CXRay's, Lance Armstrong rode on them, and the same spoke is being used in MTB'ing. They're going on my track wheelset, $180 for 64 spokes.

cyccommute 

Sorry, hit the wrong key. "The point is moot." is how it should read.

cyccommute 

I stand corrected. That said, aluminum as a solid wire has way less strength than a steel wire. As a large diameter tube it's okay as a thin wire...I don't think I'll be trusting my life to them. I think this is one of the ideas whose time is dumb.

cyccommute 

That was the lowest price I was able to find on the web. 4 cents is lower than I've ever seen them.

geraldatwork

+1

waterrockets 

Aluminum spokes are durable in themselves, but the wheel is a system, and aluminum spokes prevent convenient maintenance. You WILL get oxidation with the nipple, no matter what it's made of. This means you can't easily adjust spoke tensions after the original build. Windup will be a big problem, requiring a special tool to hold the spoke in place while the nipple is turned. The excess resistance on the nipple will make it much more likely to bend and strip, requiring a destructive removal that may damage the spoke.

The lameness goes on and on...

Aluminum spokes are fine for racing, but I'd consider them disposable wheels -- regardless of purchase price. Even just aluminum nipples suck for maintenance.

If you want a truely durable wheel, get one with stainless spokes and brass nipples.

Now we'll see a bunch of responders with tales of amazing durbility -- wheels aluminum spokes and nipples lasting 3000 miles or more! When I say durable, I'm talking 30,000 miles... you know, wheels that wear out their braking surface before spokes.

Nessism

brians647

Yeah, they're expensive. But if they're tough AND cool looking... well... I'd consider them a good investment.

brians647

Great insight, thanks! That's really good to know. Now I won't feel bad about getting a cheaper wheel that's heavier since it'll be more durable too.

sogood

As I said, it's just an observation based on forum postings. I wouldn't be surprised if it's just related to cheaper SS spokes, poor built in those cheaper wheels. But at the same time, I really haven't read too many posting on broken alloy spokes which tend to be associated with more expensive wheelsets.

cyccommute 

It has more to do with the number of units than with the spokes. For example, how many steel spoked wheels exist in the world? Hundreds of millions. How many aluminum (or even low spoke boutique wheels) spoked wheels exist? Maybe thousands? A certain number of spokes are going to fail no matter what you do or how the wheel is built. It's going to seem rarer in a smaller population because you just don't have the sample size. Plus, for the kind of cash outlay I was seeing, I'd ride them very, very gingerly...no pot hole slamming for that kind of green