As experienced 50-plussers, does spoke length matter?
No, seriously.
After swapping out the cluster on my LeMond this weekend, I am flushed with confidence and excitement and am ready to tackle rebuilding my Kaitai's rear wheel. My useless ex-LBS who delivered to me a rear wheel in pieces and with no idea what size spokes they used to build the front ("Uhhh... I don't know?" Yes, that is an actual quote when I asked them. Idiots). So, I pulled one of the spokes off of the front wheel and measured it. Seems to be about as close to 292mm as I can measure. But I read somewhere that the driver side spokes should be 2mm shorter. Does that really matter? If I'm going to buy a box 50 spokes, can't I just use them all the way around?