Originally Posted by
ruindd
So I was checking the tension of the spokes on my front wheel this morning and thought they all felt pretty loose. I pulled out the Park Tension Meter and sure enough, 75% of the spokes were at 20 and needed to be 22 (DT Comp sokes 2.0/1.8 so 22 ~ 110 kgf).
This is speculation on my part, if the original higher pressures were measured without the tire and tube mounted and inflated and then if the reduced pressures measured with the tire and tube mounted and inflated, the difference in air pressure could account for a significant amount of spoke tension reduction. A final truing, tensioning, and dishing should be done with the tire and tube mounted and inflated.
Originally Posted by
ruindd
I was pretty surprised at this because just 2 months ago I did a very thorough true on the front wheel. I thought I had finally figured out this wheel building thing. So, I start going around putting a little more tension on all of the spokes and start to think to myself "wtf, I think the spokes are just twisting and not tightening". I tried to loosen one of the spokes before tightening it and SNAP!, the nipple broke.
Now the reason I had trued my front wheel 2 months ago was because I found a snapped nipple. I started to think "I wonder if the LBS gave me Aluminum nipples instead of Brass. Maybe that's why I keep snapping them". I take off of my tire/tube/rim strip and replace the broken nipple and start the truing process. It's then that I realize my LBS had put purple (?? i think it was purple...) loctite on the spoke threads, so they wouldn't 'shake loose'.
I don't normally use Locktite on spoke threads but I have experimented with it. From my experiences blue Locktite will not cause a spoke nipple to seizee to a spoke. Purple Locktite is weaker than blue Locktite. Perhaps red Locktite was used on the spokes in question. I think blue Locktite is more of a lubricant than a cement and has a similar effect as Spoke Prep which I have used on occasion.
I use DT Swiss aluminum alloy nipples for many years and use them exclusively on my personal wheels. I suspect that the OP's aluminum nipples were possibly poor quality alloy, corroded by salt water, or damaged by using a poor fitting spoke wrench. I've been building wheels for more than 10 years and have never had a nipple failure.