Originally Posted by moxfyre
(2) Why are spoke nipples made of brass? All other highly-stressed threaded fasteners are steel on a "typical" bike, and almost everything else is aluminum. So why brass for spoke nipples? My best guess is that it has to do with corrosion in some way.
Small parts that require a lot of machining are frequently made of brass. For nipples it's easier to cut the threads. (For spokes the threads are rolled). The stress issue isn't as bad as it appears: the internally threaded part is usually softer than the screw it's meant to mate with, so the stresses are spread out more evenly.