what wire to use for wired/solderred spokes?

oldwelshman

I have a pair of Zipp wheels on my track bike and the spokes are wired and solderred, and broke one on track on sunday.
Anyone know what type of wire is used for this? Is it just like normal electronic link wire or something stronger?

It has already took ages ( and blisterred thumb!!) to get my glued tub off, then took another 20 minutes to get the broken nipple to come out of the deep section rim, what a pain!! I will have to watch I don't drop the new one inside also

aracer

None.

oldwelshman

Why none? These wheels were recently built by GB team mechanic so guess he would know what he was doing?
Will look odd if the new spoke is not same as others.
Not sure reason for them tied and solderred but when it snapped it went with a bacng but it was kept in place by the tied and soldered joint so don't know if this is reason for doing it?

piedwagtail91

didn't know people still used tied and soldered.
i may be wrong but i think they used fuse wire back in the 70's.
to get the nipple in a deep section rim without losing it ,push a spoke through ( without putting it through thr hub) and pull the nipple into place, hold it with a screwdriver whilst you get the spoke into it.

oldwelshman

piedwagtail91 wrote:

didn't know people still used tied and soldered.
i may be wrong but i think they used fuse wire back in the 70's.
to get the nipple in a deep section rim without losing it ,push a spoke through ( without putting it through thr hub) and pull the nipple into place, hold it with a screwdriver whilst you get the spoke into it.

Good tip
I just used my magic screwdriver which splits the blade of the screwdriver to grip the nipple.
ps the wheels were rebuilt not long ago.

aracer

http://yarchive.net/bike/tying-and-soldering.html

geoff_ss

I would use bare tinned copper (BTC) about 20 swg (about 1mm or .040" diameter) It's probably available from Maplins though I get mine from an electrical shop in Derby that stocks just about anything I need electrically/electronically and is usually much cheaper.

It's not too expensive for a small reel though I've had my reel for a good few years now.

btw you'll need a hefty (100 watt plus) soldering iron and some Baker's soldering fluid to get the spokes to tin reasonably. Also the spokes will need to be absolutely clean before you start. Baker's is corrosive - so be careful to wash the joint thoroughly and scrub with an old tooth brush once you've finished. I suppose you could use a small gas blow torch as the heat source but I'm not sure what effect too much heat might have on the spoke quality.

Also try and get some 'real' solder (ie lead/tin alloy) rather than the totally rubbish lead free stuff they try to foist on you these days. It is still available - I restocked on some a few months ago in case I ran out.

Most of my soldering of this type is making piano wire undercarriages for model aeroplanes and it's not too difficult with the right stuff.

Geoff

synchronicity

aracer wrote:

http://yarchive.net/bike/tying-and-soldering.html

Man that Job Brandst is such a toss-pot. :roll:

aracer

How do you work that out, Synchronicity, and why do you feel the need for the ad-hom about a bloke who isn't even here to defend himself?

For the record Jobst Brandt is extremely knowledgeable, and on this subject as with many others, he knows exactly what he's talking about. Unfortunately, too many people in the cycling world are more likely to believe folklore than science.