I'll continue to use brass nipples exclusively from now on, unless I'm convinced that some new (to me) aluminum nipple is significantly more durable than the typical one's I've had experience with. The way I treat my bikes sometimes would fall under gm1230126's definition of "abuse". The aluminum nipples that came on my race bike's rear wheel started popping one by one. Tearing up the rim tape and replacing the nipple each time got to be a real drag. I ended up having to rebuild the wheel with new nipples (brass this time, thank you). The wheel has been problem free ever since.
For those who don't baby their bikes and who wouldn't mind the tradeoff of a little more weight at the rim to gain more longevity, I recommend brass nipples. This seems to me to be one of the many cases where there's no solution that's optimal for everyone.
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It is my belief that every person in this world has something to teach, and everything to learn.
In memory of Jim Price (aka. sydney) ...
Last edited by juicemouse; 03-19-06 at 11:08 PM.