From what I gather, most hubs, but not always, have spoke holes drilled to 2.5 mm. The AlpineIII has a ~2.3 mm head, which should provide just enough transition clearance for installing the spoke. My unscientific thinking (And I'm willing to be corrected. ) is that the smaller difference between the spoke head's OD and the hub's hole diameter would make that area somewhat stronger. The main length of the spoke is 1.8 mm and the threading is 2 mm. Basically a 15 gauge spoke that can use a 14 gauge size nipple.

For commonly available parts, I'm still going to suggest to anyone who asks 36 hole wheels for touring bikes.

Brad