spokey

[simonplatt]

i have just built my first wheel from scratch, using used rim and spokes onto a new hub. all has gone well, with a couple of mistakes (corrected) along the way.

i bought a new spokey for the project, a red one, i think maybe a buddy. which worked great but now that the wheel is built, straight and dished and up to reasonable tension i find that there is some slack between the key and nipple. i have measured the nipples at 3.25mm.

i am looking at other spokeys but they do not ((mostly) seem to indicate a size, but refer to euro, us, jap or foreign etc. its so annoying that they don't put the sizes on.

i know there are other posts on the subject, but it's still not clear.

 

[accountantpete]

I'm sure someone will find an exception but basically there are three nipple sizes for road bikes

3.2 Black (specialist nipples like DT etc)
3.3 Green (European Spokes generally)
3.45 Red (Japanese Spokes)

I'd give a 3.3 Green one a go.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cyclepro-...sure_Cycling_BikeLocks_SR&hash=item3cc3070470

 

[PpPete]

My Red Spokey (and a PBK copy) are both 3.2 mm

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

i have just built my first wheel from scratch, using used rim and spokes onto a new hub. all has gone well, with a couple of mistakes (corrected) along the way.

i bought a new spokey for the project, a red one, i think maybe a buddy. which worked great but now that the wheel is built, straight and dished and up to reasonable tension i find that there is some slack between the key and nipple. i have measured the nipples at 3.25mm.

i am looking at other spokeys but they do not ((mostly) seem to indicate a size, but refer to euro, us, jap or foreign etc. its so annoying that they don't put the sizes on.

i know there are other posts on the subject, but it's still not clear.

I am pretty sure the buddy spokey is actually an M:Part Spokey marketed by Madison, where you can see the red is indeed 3.25mm.

It seems to be either a badge engineered or knock-off of the original Rixen & Kaul Spokey Sheldon recommended (pro version has two layers of metal insert), of which red is again 3.25mm. If you want to cover other sizes, this is great and like all good keys it grabs the nipple on all four sides.

 

[simonplatt]

it is this one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rixen-Kau...sure_Cycling_BikeLocks_SR&hash=item1e78a4c4cd
i have ordered a yellow one also but this time the pro version. also like the look of the fat spanner which appears to be stocked by lbs so i will get one of those. prefer the single one, but also want to be equipped for all circumstances. i remember truing a wheel for a friend which had an assortment of nipple sizes on the same wheel.

couldn't find a green spokey on google.

 

[andrew_s]

Spoke key colours are not standardised between different manufacturers

Cyclepro (post 2) seem to have copied the Park Black/Green/Red/Blue colour scheme as well as the overall design of the key itself.

The plastic Spokey design seems to have standardised on Red=Euro, Yellow=Japanese, whoever is selling them. As for whether the original design is Buddy, R&K or someone else, that's lost in the mists of time - they were around in pre-interweb days (mid 90's)

 

[FrankCrank]

A while back I stripped down a couple of old wheels and the nipples were like this:

Absolute doddle to work with, just need the right size small socket. Not seen them anywhere else, and can't understand why they are not the de facto nipple. The wheels were old steel ones (Puch) with galvanised spokes - my other spoke keys would have really struggled for sure. Each wheel had 36 nipples, so can't wait to reuse them on a future build

 

[presta]

My spoke key is about 70-80 years old. When the correct slot got a bit worn and loose I filed out one of the smaller ones to fit.

 

[Nigelnightmare]

I've got two spokeys one yellow from 1994, no size on it but it's bigger than the Red one I got last year that is 3.25.
It has SPOKEY on one side and RK on the other.