Originally Posted by
bulgie
Yes Harlan made them two ways,
- the super-thin high-strength steel with brazed-on threads
- thicker aluminum wire with threads cut into the alu
The one wheel that passed through my shop was the latter, alu spokes. I was afraid to ride it, so I sold it with my weight-weenie Exxon Graftek.
Aluminum spokes never seemed like a great idea, but at least the "siamese spoke" avoids the issue of having to form a head at the end. OTOH, the threads at the end seem like they would be stress risers and prone to failure.
I suppose the biggest question is whether there is enough redundancy in that wheel to reliably survive a broken spoke pair.
In retrospect, I'm amazed that Harlan didn't require his customers to sign waivers in order to buy some of his products! I heard Larry Black tell a few stories about Harlan at one of the CR events, and Larry was clearly not impressed by how Harlan pushed the limits.
Steve in Peoria