Are damaged spoke nipples serious?

[02GF74]

you are listing static weights but the wheel is spinning so from school mathemtics/physics the effect is squared.

I have alloy nippples on mtb wheels and so for not had problems so alloy nipples win every time for me. :P plus the are available in pretty colours.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

you are listing static weights but the wheel is spinning so from school mathemtics/physics the effect is squared.

AFAIK YellowTim is comparing like with like since he is putting that 20g extra for brass nipples on a single wheel in context with masses near the rim, i.e. single rim say 400g, tube 100g and tyre 250g. Alloy nipples therefore would make a c2.5% reduction to wheel rotational mass/inertia. The effect of that 20g on relevant static or linear mass of the bike (+ rider) is of course minute in comparison.

The question then is what difference does an additional 20g in rotational mass make in the real world, theoretically. I think the answer can be found here, i.e. not much except to those who race, e.g. in crit.

 

[gwhite]

you are listing static weights but the wheel is spinning so from school mathemtics/physics the effect is squared.

I have alloy nippples on mtb wheels and so for not had problems so alloy nipples win every time for me. :P plus the are available in pretty colours.

They may look pretty but after a time they freeze to the spoke and make any adjustment impossible. In my view they are unfit for purpose and a nightmare for anyone who works with wheels.

 

[User16625]

Had the job done for free. The guy who was in charge of warranty decisions claimed he had never seen anything like this and allowed the shop to carry out the repair. A bank statement was adequate proof. Plus I had new chain and cassette done aswell (obviously not free) and bike is going awsome. Just thought it was worth giving positive feedback as I certainly let it be known if a LBS has tucked me up. Also the LBS (Tredz) werent so anal about having sprockets they could eat their food off like another nearby shop had.

 

[Blue Hills]

I had several nipples break on a Dahon Speed Pro - but that's Dahon quality control for you. They were some sort of shity alloy. Wheel rebuilt with brass nipples.

 

[Davidc]

A 2nd hand bike my son had some years ago had alloy nipples. They'd seized tight to the spokes when I got the job of truing the wheel. I can't remember what the spokes were made of but I ended up replacing the lot with stainless steel spokes with brass nipples.

Only time I've dealt with alloy ones and I hope it'll be the last.