yea...smooth bike

How do you go about replacing soldered spokes or rebuilding a wheel with those spokes? I guess you just have to break apart the soldered bits? At any rate, I want to see more photos of this bike.

I have no clue how to service the wheels/spokes. Anyone know?

it's very sad that someone slotted a pair of suntour hubs.

Yeah, but I got the wheelset for about $100. Nothing sad 'bout that.

And they're freakin' cool looking. And the blades are sharp. Like the "Day Walker" himself, Blade.

If it's a handbuilt wheel done by a pro (or someone who knows what they're doing) there should be no reason to ever service the spokes on those wheels.

Spokes will only fail under "normal" riding conditions if the tension is too low somewhere. Tying & soldering serves to stiffen up the wheel (decreases the effective spoke length) and make it absorb shocks better (it spreads out the force of impact between two spokes instead of just one).

If something catastrophic happens though, you can just melt the solder and unwrap the wire. The solder will melt before damage is done to the spokes, provided you do things properly (ie, minimal heat).

Read up on the subject first before taking apart tied & soldered spokes. For the best results you'll need a specific kind of wire & solder if you redo them.

Dude, thanks for the info!

Or under normal wear after 10k-20k miles or so.

... I only know like one or two things. I guess I hit my cap for the day early.

Edit: The book I had in mind for tied & soldered spoke information was "The Art of Wheelbuilding" by Gerd Schraner. It also gives a different perspective on how long a wheel can last (opposed to what BostonFixed said), but that's for them to debate. I'm still learning so I can't say for sure either way just yet.

When I was much younger and much more foolish, I converted a pair of superbe pro track hubs to quick release and respaced the rear one to take a 7-speed freewheel.

Those wheels are still being ridden, just not by me.

jeez i'll host your photos of that bike if needed, so we can see larger versions. :)

Host my new shark.

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/4573/a28in.jpg

Those wheels look great. I always thought bladed spokes would look silly in a 32/36spoke wheel. I was so wrong that now I'm thinking about building my new rear with bladed spokes. I have butted DT revo's up front, so the bike would look sorta funky, I guess.

BTW, Sapim CX-rays are supposed to only just fit into average spoke holes w/o filing. 2,34mm at the thickest point. If only they were cheaper...
(Raygunner, I hate you for getting that wheelset for $100)

The Wheelsmith and DT bladed have versions that will fit w/o filing as well.

rg -- landshark?? if you've got big pix, feel free to send em to my email, i'll host.

And of course if you want to go with a data-driven engineering opinion, Jobst Brandt will tell you that tying and soldering is a fool's game and doesn't really do anything useful.

"data-driven engineering opinion" != "fool's game and doesn't really do anything useful"

Got a link to the results of his testing, or a quote where he discusses them?

here ya go http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/tied-soldered.html

Well there we go. Thanks for the info, guys.

rg, email me at jon@leovinceusa.com i don't mind hosting 1 or 2 pics for people :)

rg you are indeed a cop

this bike is by the book (the book of kick-ass fg)

well done!

FOR POSTING PICS

www.tinypic.com

bingo.
not bad - $275 for a used wheelset.

sure you are - just look at that seatpost in the "nose bleed" position

i kid and i am green with envy