which spokes for fixie wheels
 

Is it better to get straight gauge or double butted spokes when you're building a new wheel for fixie or single speed?

I thought double butted are always better, but I just read something somewhere that made me think twice.

As with all wheels, straight gauge will be a little stiffer but have a less forgiving ride. Butted is a tad lighter. In theory straight gauge should also be a bit more durable, but in practice the difference is negligible. The number of spokes and rim choice are going to the biggest factors in wheel performance.

the choice is yours, there is nothing special about fix/single riding that warrants a specific spoke.

What did you read and where did you read it? I'm curious as to how anyone would come up with something so ludicrious.

FG wheels are built exactly like any other bicycle wheel.

I read some little comment somewhere on one of the forums. I'm afraid that's as specific as I can get right now since I bounce around reading so much.

http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html#spokes

"#

# Double-buttedspokes are thicker at the ends than in the middle. The most popular diameters are 2.0/1.8/2.0 mm (also known as 14/15 gauge) and 1.8/1.6/1.8 (15/16 gauge).

Double-butted spokes do more than save weight. The thick ends make them as strong in the highly-stressed areas as straight-gauge spokes of the same thickness, but the thinner middle sections make the spokes effectively more elastic. This allows them to stretch (temporarily) more than thicker spokes.

As a result, when the wheel is subjected to sharp localized stresses, the most heavily stressed spokes can elongate enough to shift some of the stress to adjoining spokes. This is particularly desirable when the limiting factor is how much stress the rim can withstand without cracking around the spoke hole. "

It sounds like you're getting confused by the voodoo and mysticism that surrounds fixed gear bikes and cycling in general.

Yes, but only temporarily confused. I went back and reread a few wheelbuilding books I have and have come back to the reality of bike wheels and spokes! Some dufus' remark got me off track.

Double butted, is nearly always the way to go in a standard build. Can anyone list any appilcations where straight guage would be an advantage over double butted spokes, ignoring the cost as a factor?

On the road, double butted are typically the better choice. On the track, straight gauge can provide more lateral stiffness in some wheels. You don't need any increased comfort as you do on the road, and the big issue favoring double butted spokes is that the elasticity eases metal fatigue. On the road this is a relevant issue because your wheels may want to be riden 15K miles before rebuilding. But on the track, nobody rides those kinds of miles and added stiffness is a higher priority. You can feel the difference between straight and butted on a pair of wheels when jumping off a banking -- the butted ones wobble more.

This picture is now getting complicated by some of the new wheel builds. Some rims such as Reynolds carbon rims are so strong that Reynolds will build these with very high tension and use double butted spokes to let them get to higher and more even tension. They literally build the wheels up so there is more stretch in the spoke than you'd encounter in a traditional wheel build. A rep at Reynolds told me that their track rear wheel is laced to over 1300 N, compared to the Mavic recommendation for all their alloy rims of around 950 N. When you feel the wheels, you immediately see it. It's an interesting strategy and I'm waiting to see whether these wheels have more problems over time. So far, they are stiff, light, and incredibly strong. Reynolds is has some very good engineers and they make some of the best stuff in bike equipment, and their carbon rims are the standards for everyone to follow (better than Zipp, and even Zipp engineers are saying that they use Reynolds as their target for stiffness and crashworthiness).

I can't really think of any street/city applications where straight gauge spokes are better. I prefer double butted and can readily tell the difference, they feel a little more springy and soak up the bumps / road vibrations a lot better.

But which is stronger, Im a big guy and I hop curbs and ****. At 250 pounds any thing is going to feel springy. Im about to build a set and Ive been trying to figure all this out as well.