lxs602

Hi,

I am building a wheel for the first time. I bought everything a long time ago, with triple-butted spokes and a Mavic rim, but have since found the hub to be defective.

The hub, a solid-axle Marin Rockstar, appears to be an odd, rare one with uncommon dimensions (centre flange distance L 46.3mm, R 19.2mm; flange pitch circle diameter L 45.5mm, R 45.5mm). The closest replacement I could find on the kstoerz hub database which I am now using is a Shimano FH-T610 (flange offsets 35mm L, 19.5mm R and flange diameter 45.5mm).

On starting to thread the spokes through the new hub, I notice a big gap between the spoke elbow and body and the flange of the hub. I tried using 3mm washers, but it didn't really help as the elbows are so fat.

Sheldon Brown's page on wheel-building says "Flange thicknesses vary, but the spoke's elbow should be snug against the flange. If it is not, the spoke's tension will try to bend the spoke at the elbow -- a frequent cause of spoke breakage."

I know that on the path of the spoke will bend towards the flange on raising tension, but it seems like a large gap to me.

What do you think?

[EDIT: I have tried uploading images, but it won't let me as a new user... perhaps a mod or another use might kindly help, if I send them to someone?

I have added some photos as links on my profile page in the mean-time... if you navigate to my profile and select 'Visitor Messages', they are listed there)