I have a couple more questions about relacing.
I see that there are different spokes made of stainless steel, or cadmium plated. Any thoughts on which one is best and why? The steel ones cost twice as much.
Is it necessary to cut all of the spokes or can they be changed individually? If my rims clean up well, I might just replace the spokes and not the rims. It seems like it would be easier to do them one at a time since you can't botch the pattern and you are starting with a wheel that is already true or hopefully close to it.
Thanks
Hi happydaze,
first, I suspect your inspector's veracity. "OK for another year"?
WTF? Spokes are either OK (tight, all "ping" nice, not bent or broken, rim runs true) or they are not (Loose, broken, bent, missing, rim all wobbly) and need replacing right now.
That said:-
Plated carbon steel spokes can rust while the more expensive stainless steel spokes won't.
Whichever spokes you buy be sure that they have been passivated as a final step of manufacture.
Some who make highly polished spokes meant for show bikes omit this step.
Use non-passivated spokes on a wheel that sees the road and the spoke heads have been known to pop off.
Cut the old spokes to remove them? OK I suppose if the nipples are seized or don't turn easily, use a dremel rather than an angle grinder or a gas axe?
Of course use the existing rims unless they are damaged or if you are using the respoke job to swap into a different rim size or style.
One at a time? Alas, no. Taking them all out is easier. They have to be installed in the correct order. One bank at a time, ingoers first, outgoers last.
I once replaced a single ingoing spoke in a built wheel after it broke.
It had to be bent into a U-shape to get in into place past all the other spokes then hand-straightened to finally poke it into the rim and thread the nipple on.
You could hardly see the wiggle in the spoke after it was tensioned but I don't recommend building a wheel that way.
