Read the review of the Felt on your website. You mentioned that it has brass nipples on the drive side and alloy on the nondrive side. Why is this a good thing?
I believe it’s good because brass nipples stay hard all of the time. Although they can be a liitle cold to the touch.
I’m not Tom D, but brass nipples are stronger and more durable than their alloy counterparts. Using them on the drive side is meant to enhance the durability of the wheelset due to the high stresses there, yet minimize the total rotating weight by using alloy nipples on the non-drive side.
Of course anytime you use alloy nipples you should ensure the spokes are prepped properly or they’ll freeze to the spokes and not allow you to turn them for truing. I once had a prebuilt set of wheels from a good online shop totally freeze up. My LBS ended up having to cut the spokes and totally rebuild the wheels, all because they weren’t prepped properly. That issue is now well documented, though, and I doubt anyone reputable makes that mistake these days, particularly with manufactured wheelsets.
The drive side spokes are under a lot more stress and brass nipples are stronger. Aluminum nipples are lighter than brass and some people are really into that kind of stuff.
Brett
TriBriGuy pretty much hit the nail on the head.
On a serious note, I am going to be building up a wheelset with alloy nipples. I have built up a few wheelsets before (with brass nipples) and have used grease and spokeprep on the threads (at different times).
What would you recommended as the best spoke and nipple prep for stainless steel spokes and alloy nipples (to avoid the “freezing” problem) listed above?
Thanks.
Thanks for the info. evryone. FYI I’m “twitching” at work today, but all your answers were forwarded to my home computer. My wife just called me and gave hard time, “shouldn’t you be working?” Busted.
Tom is probably busy, but on a serious note, I am going to be building up a wheelset with alloy nipples. I have built up a few wheelsets before (with brass nipples) and have used grease and spokeprep on the threads (at different times). What would you recommended as the best spoke and nipple prep for stainless steel spokes and alloy nipples to avoid the “freezing” problem you wrote about? Any other tips? Thanks.