Keefusb

Going to be building my first wheels from scratch. I'm trying to decide which spoke prep to use. I have heard that linseed oil is best, or blue Locktite, or plain old oil works best. There are also several purpose-made spoke prep compounds.

Looking for input and/or opinions on what to use.

Andrew R Stewart 

Being the first self made wheel set I strongly suggest LockTite is not used. Many, including me, have used oil or grease on tens of thousands of wheels with no issues. For customer wheels I generally use Spoke Prep more because they expect it. Andy

gearbasher

I've always used Wheelsmith spoke prep on the threads and a dab of Anti-Seize on the shoulders of the nipples.

Nessism

I just finished building a couple of sets and used grease on both threads and the outside of the nipple. Seems to work fine but then I don't heavily stress my wheels so I make no claim to this being best practice. What I do know is that I keep my wheels around for quite a while and when the nipples stick to the spoke threads it makes truing a pain in the butt.

Anyway, here is November Dave's Youtube channel. He's got a couple wheel building videos that you can take to the bank as far as technique is concerned.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClG...ByZcAOEZKw3u6w

JohnDThompson 

I like linseed oil. It lubricates while you're building the wheel, then hardens over the course of a couple days into a varnish that locks the threads, but not so much that the wheel can't be trued again, if needed. A few bucks buys a lifetime supply, and you can use it on furniture as well.

Dean51 

30 weight motor oil for the 30+ wheels I've built. 'Haven't had a problem with any of them.

Dean

TheoMcD

Rock N Roll Nipple Cream - This stuff is awesome

Rick

I just use oil on the wheels I build. Over seven years ago my new custom bicycle that I specked the specific rims for. Came with what the shop decided. I ordered in the new spokes and rims of my choice and preceded to disassemble the wheels. The black stuff they had put on the nipples was more like glue then spoke prep. I finished disassembly and completed the rebuild of the wheels on my now custom bicycle. I have not had to true the wheels and when I checked there trueness with my dial indicators a few weeks ago there had been no movement out of true in over 7 years.

ThermionicScott 

I really need to try that. Apart from my first wheel build, where the spokes came with spoke prep applied, I've only used oil.

tendency

Always used triflow myself never had an issue.

Moe Zhoost

I'm not a pro, but have built dozens of wheels. The only thing I use is a drop of motor oil on the threads. I've never had an issue with nipples loosening so I see no need for anything that acts as a thread locker.

cxwrench

I've used oil, linseed oil, spoke prep, tri flow. They all work if you tension the wheel properly. I put a drop of tri flow on the nipple/rim interface once it's laced, prior to tensioning. I also usually put a drop of spoke freeze on the spoke/nipple when done.

Keefusb

Seems like regular old oil is the consensus. I might go with Linseed oil on the rear NDS spokes, since they will have the least amount of tension on them.

I appreciate all the input!

79pmooney

I use marine grease on both the spoke threads and the nipple seats on the rim. (Q-tips are perfect for those seats.)

The big plus - the nipple turn guaranteed. Number of years, weather, road salt ... absolutely doesn't matter.

davidad

Loctite 567 thread sealer. It sets up firm and you can readjust the nipple later if necessary.

cpach

You should lubricate the nipple rim interface and the spoke threads. In the interests of efficiency I like to immerse all the nipples in oil before building to accomplish both tasks at once. For aluminum on carbon anti seize on the rim eyets may help with galvanic corrosion. I like a little dt spoke freeze or light threadlocker dripped into the nipples after building as additional assurance against spoke loosening. Spokes will only loosen on a well built wheel if it's loaded beyond its design intentions—but things happen and it's not a terrible idea to have some mild thread locking. This is especially true on mountain bikes where sheer trauma to the rim is common. You should be able to make adjustments later if you do this.

Lazyass

In the 90'so I built a set of wheels and used Militech gun oil since it was all I had and they never went out of true. That's all I've used since.

pdlamb

Linseed oil on rear NDS and front wheel. Rear DS gets Finish Line Wet because that's usually the chain oil that's in the house, saving me a trip to the garage. That might change when I finish up the bottle in the garage, though.

TheoMcD

between the rim and the nipple, I have used SAE-10W, and it was still on there after a few years when I pulled the first wheelset I built apart.