AngryScientist 

My former favorite spokes, Wheelsmith seem to be hard to come by these days. I always thought the finish on the Wheelsmith spoke was a notch above the other vendors. I note now that Pillar spokes have become more available and popular. I have also built with DT and Sapim in the past. Anyway, who are your go-to spoke suppliers these days? I will need nice springy light gauge buttted spokes for this lovely combo below. Thank you.

noobinsf 

I think Yojimbo’s Garage in Chicago still sells from their website (you have to call), or maybe they still have their ebay store? I’m not sure — it’s been a while for me, but I want to build some wheels this summer, so I’m subscribing to this thread.

SurferRosa

The last web-based place i used, I can't recommend, wheelbuildingparts.com.

Half the spokes were labeled 1mm too long. They still worked, but that's not what I ordered. And half the spokes' threads were buggered. I couldn't spin a nipple on them loose with just my fingers. It made it much more difficult to build one of the wheels.

They also didn't send a confirmation email with a tracking number. But at least they answer their phone.

I really miss using danscomp.com.

ehcoplex 

Ooof... I got spokes from wheelbuildingparts.com a couple months ago for a build, and they were fine. Just placed an order yesterday for another build... I'll report back when I receive it & give it a once-over....

plonz 

I haven’t ordered spokes since supplies got wonky but I did notice that Universal Cycles still has some Wheelsmith spokes for sale in limited sizes. These have been my fave brand over the years.

rccardr 

Sunny Spokes, awesome service, great with Sapim in particular, works with you on custom orders, superfastmonkey shipping. Good guy.

scarlson 

Yojimbo's garage doesn't have an ebay store anymore, last time I checked. But you can email or call and they will still do spokes, last time I checked (mid 2022 a friend ordered some).
Here's the website with contact info (phone and email).
yojimbosgarage.com/blog/?page_id=46

Spokes can be a little bit pricey these days, but if you get your nipples in bulk elsewhere you can cut down costs a little bit.

USAZorro

Looking at the options, I am feeling depressed. I don't want to spend $80 for spokes to build a set of wheels. There has to be a better option.

ehcoplex 

If you find that better option, PLEASE share it…. My wheel building ‘career’ only began after the commencement of the pandemic, so expensive spokes are all I’ve known!

Velo Mule

I have gone to the BikeHubStore @AngryScientist . It was a recommendation that one of the members made here on BikeForums. They may not be the least expensive, but I get my spokes quickly and in good condition. No problems.

SurferRosa

Food for thought: you can find a box of 100 uncut Sapim Race spokes in the low $50s shipped. If your lbs can cut and thread them for under $30, that would be around the same total price as some online shops, and you'll have almost 30 uncut spokes left over for the next build.

The only reason I mention this is I have an lbs (Gregg's Greenlake) that has done this in the past for me super cheap when I came in on a really slow weekday.

Mackers

I get my Pillars from AExpress.

CSC has been very good for me in the past, free brass or aluminum nipples of your choice (they always add 1 or 2 extra per batch) very fast shipping, sizes spot on, and very low prices.
They even had a sale a few months ago on those same silver Novatec hubs (not labeled as Ambrosio though)

Before AliExpress I used to order Sapims from some place in Indiana (Dan's comp, something like that?)
Rose.de used to be very reasonable for DT Swiss but haven't ordered there in a long time.

Mackers

Just looked at rose.de again and they still are very reasonable, with 20 Competitions for €6.80 and singles for €0.39.

scarlson 

You can also go to ebay and see what's around. I find searching by specific length helps, because there are a lot of sellers looking to unload what seems like boxes and boxes of certain specific lengths. Usually name brand stuff like DT or Sapim. Maybe this is where all the bike shops' spoke stocks are going.

BradH

I had an identical experience with that seller, rough threads.

I had been using Thorusa for a decade and they retired. I had heard Danscomp recommended here but it appears they are not doing spokes either.

I used prowheelbuilder.com in January and everything was perfect.

EVlove

I just built my first wheel from scratch and searched for a long time. I found good prices at Carson City Bike Shop but their website is absolutely awful and their system has a bug that wouldn't allow the spokes I picked to be shipped to my (regular US street) address. Pointed it out to them and a sales manager got back to me immediately, said he was able to replicate the issue with a mock order, and handed it off to their IT person. Who then turned out to be a grade A person, and by that I mean A as in ***hole. Kept blaming my web browser, even though it was already confirmed in-house, even though I tried other browsers, even though I was able to order other items, just not those spokes. I made it clear that I didn't have patience for this kind of BS and found a decent deal on ebay instead. Just under $30 taxed and shipped for 38 stainless DT Swiss 1.8, not butted, with nipples. Seller goes by vievelo and was a pleasure to deal with.

I also ordered from Bike24 in Germany for a rear drive side rebuild last fall. Great prices (Sapim; I think they carry DT but won't ship them to the US), but it was part of a larger shipment which was packaged so poorly that the bag of spokes and nipples got lost on the way. They refunded the money promptly but then were unable to ship replacements in the same length for weeks. And shipping from Germany is painfully slow to begin with. In the end it was six weeks before I got my spokes.

Rose Bikes have a poorly implemented PayPal interface and don't refund VAT like they should, so I refuse to shop there.

Ol Danl

I just rebuilt a wheel using spokes from Porkchop BMX. They are just straight gauge, but that’s all I ever use, and they can provide them up to 310 mm. They were $.32 each. I think the brand name is Richman.

AngryScientist 

You're really missing out if all you ever ride are wheels with straight gauge spokes. Butted spokes make for a much livelier, better riding wheel.

EVlove

Good to know! I found those when I was looking, but then the "any length" option vanished from the website for a while.

esasjl

Lasers cut to length (nearest mm) by https://www.spokesfromryan.com/

79pmooney

I just ordered 3 wheels of spokes from WheelBuilder in Azusa, CA. Monday early afternoon, They arrived yesterday morning by their regular Fed Ex. Two of the wheels are now built. Not one issue. Lengths were on the money. (DT Revs and Competitions.)

That was second or third time with them. They are good. They look at the order with a knowing eye and have called me when they've wondered if I made a mistake. Spoke selection does very a bit. I started with them after COVID hit and I think they've suffered the same supply issues as everybody else. They can cut spokes so as long as they can get long enough, they can help you. And they will cut odd mm lengths at a surcharge. Good thing is they carry both DT and Sapim so I've always been able to get the spoke lengths and gauges/butts I wanted even when I have had to mix makers. (And mercifully, my bikes don't care. Both brands are first class.)

So far - they been as good for me as the old Wheelsmith. Just has taken me a little more digging and sometimes a phone call (the COCID curse?) but what shows up at my doorstep is just as good.

Edit: All the spokes I've bought from them have been 302, 300 and 298 in length. Not the popular shorties. For shallow tubular wheels laced 3X.

El Chaba

Excel Sports.

79pmooney

way off topic - Gregg's! Bought a used Miyata 610 to replace my just died winter/rain/fix gear frame number #3. Touring frame, never a super fit but highest quality of the now 5 frames that bike has had by a lot. And to this day, I thank them for contacting Ortleib and asking them to do a special run of panniers using Ortleib's raft yellow fabric, not dark for the Pacific NW winter light. (I had no idea Gregg's did that. Just asked at Citybike when I was new in Portland if those wonderful waterproof panniers came in a bright color. A couple of times. One day, one of their employees said that he'd heard Gregg's had placed that order. I asked him to inquire; that I'd take the first pair and show it off at every bike shop I knew. He did. Got some. And I did. Yellow Ortleibs are now a thing. Now if I could only get SKS to do the same with their road fenders.)

SurferRosa

and yeah, not the most c&v friendly place in town, but very close by for me and really good for a few things. Been there a long time. Bought a bunch of Park tools there many moons ago.

albrt 

I had a slightly better experience with Carson City. They have a lot of stuff, usually at the lowest price, but the organization of the website is terrible and there is zero information about the products. You pretty much have to research the product you need elsewhere, then search for an exact match at Carson City. That said, once I found something there I always got what I ordered at the lowest cost, including nice butted DT spokes.

You also have to watch their shipping - the shipping cost can have fairly large tiers so sometimes the additional shipping cost cancels out any savings on small orders. For example, if you're buying a bunch of tires you have to punch in different numbers of tires and run it through the checkout process to see how many tires you can get at what cost. Usually I can get up to 7 tires for $25 shipping, then it jumps to $50 if I order 8. The shipping department is also a little more laid back than most e-retailers. You get a message saying your order is "awaiting shipment," but then it can take 4 or 5 more days for the order to actually be shipped.

Despite the issues I am ordering a lot from Carson City just based on price. These days it's basically the only place I can get tires for the co-op below $20 net.