Mixing spokes?

colm_gti

Just my luck, snapped a spoke on my PRO RC50's while warming up for a race this morning that forced me to abandon before I even got going (foolish to leave my spare wheels at home!). The enlarged part that holds it into the hub snapped off, leaving the spoke intact from the shoulder to the threads. Luckily for me the wheels have external nipples so won't need the brand new, freshly glued tub removed to fix it!

Anyway, from reading the blurb on their website, they use sapim CX-speed spokes (which a google search tells me are identical to CX-ray's but made from a heavier gauge steel), but I can't seem to find them for sale anywhere. Sapim list a spoke simply called the CX that I'm assuming are the same? But again, can't find them for sale anywhere online.

My question is, would I be ok to use a CX-ray in place of the snapped spoke? Am I likely to notice the different spoke? I measured the spoke length from shoulder to end of threads and it's 260mm....

Monty Dog

Fine as an interim measure - if you're putting a lighter gauge spoke in place, then it'll be more highly stressed to take the same load as the others and therefore more likely to fail prematurely in the future. Long-run, I'd try and find a matching replacement. I buy Sapim spokes from Starbike in Germany. FWIW you'll probably still need to remove the tub to fit the replacement and suggest you get an experienced builder to replace it as even tension on a carbon-rimmed wheel is critical as you could overload the rim with terminal results.

ugo.santalucia

Yes, fine, no problem...