Originally Posted by
cyccommute
You might want to look at Pillar Spokes. I've tried them on a recent wheel build and they are pretty good spokes. The only retail source that I could find was
BDop cycling. Assuming that you can get them from a wholesaler or factory direct, they would be a good option. The advantage, again from a consumer standpoint, is that they come in silver. As a consumer, I can only get my hands on DT Alpine III in black and in full box quantity ($80 per box
)
We have built with Pillar spokes for some OEM builds we've done with no complaints. They seem to tension well... the only thing I don't personally like about them is whatever they use to blacken their spokes feels oily and rubs off pretty easily when I'm going around the wheel squeezing the pairs. Other than that minor complaint, no issues. I think DT has the name advantage, though, among touring cyclists. It seems people know to look for the DT spoke spec on touring builds, just from the customers I've talked to.