i need spokes!!

[screw_dup]

hey guys, where can i buy spokes for cheap? The set of wheels i'm building, even with the nipples tightened all the way down have almost no singer tension in them. I guess it's because they're so old. I called my LBS and the guy told me they gor for almost a dollar aspoke and they dont sell packaged boxes. I really dont want to spend $70 bucks on new spokes. What are my options?


THANKS

 

[necessaryevil]

$70? :shock: I buy mine from wheelmaster, a box of 144 steel spokes and brass nipples, for like $18. What I always find is the original fronts are like 1/4" longer than the rears, so I buy mine on the long side.

http://www.amazon.com/Wheel-Master-Stan ... B000AO5FFG

 

[Ratfink1962]

I would say keep checking around, I bought enough to do a couple of wheels here lately at the LBS and they were $.25 ea. ($9 total per 36 spoke wheel) This was for the standard zinc plated spoke, they also had stainless, but not sure what they were asking for those.

 

[screw_dup]

thanks a lot guys. i knew that could'nt be right

 

[onelesspedestrian]

yeah, I used to work in a shop. Yes, plain chrome steel spokes work out to about $.25 each (including nipple). They CAN sell you a whole box, they just don't want to.

In the context of the repair shop, wheel labour is usually "too cheap" anyways, so the parts involved are then overpriced to make a bit of it back. You just want the parts, so they shouldn't be gouging you like that.

 

[flatfender]

I had one shop charge me $1.50 per for cheapie spokes.
that shop is closer to me than my regular bike shop.
thats the only $3.00 they'll get from me.

 

[Slick Rick]

Unless you have a good source some where, it usually does work out to about a buck a spoke (including nipple).If you buy from the posted link, which is Niagara cycle through amazon, you can usually p/u a bag of 50 S.S. for around $35.00 shipped. But theres still the purchase of the nipples, they usually aerage .05-.10 a piece. And the other thing to consider is that unless your lacing the same wheel/hub combo, spoke lengths will vary widely.So you end up with odd quantities of un-useable spokes. Now if you could find someone to cut and thread your spokes to length cheaply, this would be a good start on a "cheaper" totally useable supply. :wink: Personaly I do not use "lower end" spokes, just seems like a waste of my time and efforts to do so.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

If you just building regular cruiser wheels the cheaper ones work fine. If your super tuning some road bike and your lance armstrong then you need the triangle super whammie really expensive ones. I find that 10 3/8'' and 10 5/8'' are the most common ones . Every time I replace some its one of those two sizes. Order some 10 gauge ones from Worksman...$1.00 a piece min. order 100.

 

[Riverbend Bicycles]

I buy all my spokes from Dans Comp. They will custom cut any length up to 300mm and only charge .20 and that includes the nipple. That's where I get all my spokes for my wheels and for the spoke bikes that I build. Last spring I ordered 23 spokes with 21 different sizes. I expected them to protest as I was placing my order, but they didn't. They happily took my order and only charged me the .20 a piece.