Originally Posted by
tomacropod
What is it with you (american) guys and cutting spokes?
Just buy a bunch of sized spokes and keep them on hand - you're mostly building 26" and 700c general purpose wheels in 3x pattern right? You'll need 260, 262, 264, 266, 286, 288, 290, 292, 294, 296.
Just 10 sizes will do 95% of your wheels - how much do you value your time cutting and threading spokes? This way you can buy double butted spokes, with reduced weight and increased longevity. It costs the same to ship blank 310mm spokes as it does any other length, probably more.
- Joel
And what about the cost of the excess spokes of an odd size that you will never use, but you had to buy the whole box. Even if the sizes you list covered 95% of my builds, which they don't (because I don't have to settle for 2mm increments) I still need a spoke threader, because when I need spokes of a particular size, I need them now, not when the courier service can get them to me from wherever.
I'm working my way through part boxes of odd size spokes still piled up from the days before I enjoyed the luxury of a proper spoke machine. The insignificant amount of time spent custom rolling my spokes doesn't put enough of a dent in my production to warrant going back to those days.