Originally Posted by
Andrew R Stewart
When i reply to these posts here i am often speaking more from my shop experience than from my personal practices. I do agree that with best practices alloy nipples can work well enough, I alsao apply a spoke prep before lacing a wheel and a tab of oil on each nipple (actually at it's both ends and about the head/rim contact). I also agree that spline wrenched nipples are less likely to wrench strip. Although the industry seems to not feel that the cost is worth it as nearly no bikes come that way and most all after market wheels don't too.
I haven’t seen too many aluminum nipples on OEM wheels with the exception of Specialized…which have their own problems. Inexpensive replacement wheels are all brass.
WRT the nipple galling on the rim- Perhaps I didn't fully explain what i was trying to describe. Al nipples on an Al rim, without any spoke hole eyelets, tend to have far greater friction between them than brass nipples on Al does. It's this Al on Al friction that adds to the spoke in nipple friction and thus makes rounding off the nipple's flats all that much more likely, hence the oil applied to that contact. It's by belief that added to this is the age/exposure corrosion aspect that increases the nipple/rim bond.
I build with a lot of wheels without eyelets and aluminum nipples. I’ve not experienced any kind of galling with them nor are they any harder to turn than rims with eyelets. Aluminum can’t take the same force that brass can (in square nipples), of course. My wheels are also used in all weather but. again, I haven’t had issues with making adjustments at any point.
Now if the OEM and aftermarket wheel building outfits (and I'm not meaning the custom building small "companies") were to use best practices during the wheel making and the riders didn't expose their nipples to water (especially with salt) I would likely have a better ability to true rims. Andy (and don't get me started on reduced spoke counts...)
That would be good but most people don’t want to pay $200 to $300 for a replacement wheel. Robotic builders could be programmed with the steps needed but, again, it would add significantly to the cost.
I do a lot of adjustment on old wheels at my co-op up to and including redishing. (I’m astounded at the number of poorly dished OEM wheels out there). One thing I do (or have my volunteers do) is to add a drop of oil at each nipple. It helps a whole lot. I usually just use TriFlow because it’s handy. Of course, I don’t see a whole lot of aluminum nipples.
One word on Specialized and their OEM aluminum nipple use. I’ve had numerous broken spoke nipples. They used spokes that were too short. They don’t reach the spoke slot and they tend to break above the rim. Someone thought they could save a few pennies per wheel and left us with a problem.