Originally Posted by
Commodus
I thought you couldn't reuse old spokes?
It would be silly not to unless you want to change rim model.
They last pretty much indefinitely when properly stress relieved and not damaged by a thrown chain, with one extreme documented example being Jobst Brandt's 300,000 mile set of 15/16 gauge spokes and hub shells.
Relacing is also slower than undoing the nipples down to the last few threads, taping the next rim to the old one in a few places, lubricating new nipple sockets, transferring spokes one at a time taking the opportunity to re-lubricate spoke threads, removing the old rim, and then tensioning as you would with a completely new rim (no stress relieving is necessary because the spokes retain the same positions).