July 06, 2010 5 Comments
[Note: this is #9 of a series of 20]
Back in the 1970's, aluminum nipples were rare. We had superlight tires (<200g), superlight rims (<260g), and superlight spokes (butted 15 ga), but no one thought about aluminum instead of traditional brass for nipples because the weight savings is small (~20g/wheel) and a nipple failure is just as bad as spoke breakage. The only aluminum nipples available were made from inferior alloys and didn't impress serious riders and builders.
In the 1980's, companies like DT and Wheelsmith set their sights on making high quality aluminum nipples. In Wheelsmith's case, the solution was four-fold. One, use 7075 aluminum, which has superior hardness. Two, make the nipple with 30% more threading so the chance of stripped threads is reduced. Three, forge the nipple rather than machine it to shape, to increase metal integrity. Lastly, rely upon recently developed thread compounds (Spoke Prep) to reduce friction and prevent corrosion, both a much greater concern with aluminum than brass.
These strategies succeeded but the move to aluminum for high end wheels was overwhelming. Both DT and Wheelsmith were surprised. Even with the enhancements listed above, aluminum nipples are still structurally inferior to brass. They like to corrode and fracture. The fracture is typically right where the saucer shaped head transitions to the cylinder body of the nipple. The head snaps off and the cylinder, with a healthy spoke inside, drops away.
Corrosion plays a role, but so does nipple alignment. Rims can provide nipple locations that aim directly at the incoming spoke. A nipple itself can, also, orbit in its seat to better adjust, but rims with holes too small constrain the alignment. And many rims do nothing to support nipple angle. These conditions continue today. However, hurray, there's a 100% solution to aluminum nipple failure. Use a longer spoke.
When your spoke passes through the nipple's weak spot, the transition from head to shaft, it reinforces the structure. The nipple can't break if the spoke fills its length. For most builds, this adds one millimeter to the length. You'll have to experiment a bit, but freedom from nipple breakage is more than worth the effort.
From now on, don't let any of your wheels lose aluminum nipples because they broke at their heads. There's simply no excuse!
November 02, 2021
There is something missing in this article about aluminium nipples, and it is covered by DT Swiss and their Superspoke; triple butted spokes, with 1.8mm diameter in the thread, means that the nipple will be more beefy, because the spoke thread is thinner, but the nipple external width is always the same.
This also means that a 1.8mm spoke will use stronger aluminium nipples (although the thin width of a 1.8mm spoke may damage faster the hub spoke hole, which will be designed for 2.0 spokes or larger, therefore, if the spoke is also 1.8mm at the hub, it’s perhaps not such a good idea, therefore, a triple butted solution, like DT Swiss Supoerspoke sounds like the best ever).
November 02, 2021
Go grab a few weight values off Weight Weenies and do a bit of math. The added spoke length in a 32 spoke will add under 1 gram, while the aluminum nipples will save over 20 grams.
November 02, 2021
The longer spokes are an infinitesimal consequence compared to the aluminum nipples. Let’s take a few values from Weight Weenies (all for a 32 count of straight 14ga):
DT Alu Nipples – 10g
DT Brass Nipples – 32g
DT Champion Spokes, 265mm – 222.5g
If you do the math, upping those 265 spokes to 266 will total about 223.2g. That’s a 0.7g weight gain in spoke length compared to 22g weight savings in nipples.
November 02, 2021
How much more per wheel will that extra millimeter of steel weigh? For a 32-hole wheel, that’s more than an inch of extra steel that needn’t be there. Switching to aluminum nipples offers such a tiny weight decrease that I’m sure even that small amount of extra steel would offset the gain significantly. Then there’s the added cost and care in building/maintaining…
Comments will be approved before showing up.
jon deaux
November 02, 2021
Not to mention the weight where the nipples are is at the outer limit of the wheels. It’s more than just mass somewher on the frame but rather where rotational inertia is critical that must be spun up to accelerate.