[Yak] Spokes get brittle?

[Greg Illes]

Most alloys of stainless have strengths that are slightly less than good "carbon steel" (chromoly steel really). (Yeah, there are some expensive ones that are up there, but they tend to be able to rust and corrode more than garden-variety stainless alloys.)

But the advantages of appearance and corrosion resistance generally outweigh the slight disadvantage of lower Young's modulus.

As for breaking spokes, how many of us check all of our spoke tensions on every ride? Spokes get looser and tighter and unevenly loaded. Look at what BF does with their utilitarian mounts: 36 14-gage stainless spokes on each wheel. Wow, that's overkill - - - or is it?

When you can bounce a Pocket Llama all around the world with 40 pounds of traveling gear strapped onto it, and never fret the wheel's integrity, then it's not overkill, it's ..... serendipity.

BTW - - the tiny little area down at the hub where the spoke angles through its anchor hole tends to gather dirt, contaminants, and provide a fertile area for corrosion. The ss spokes will last a lot longer under this condition than the "stronger" but corrosion-susceptible carbon spokes.

G.


----- Original Message ----
From: Tony Raven <tony at raven-family.com>
To: yak at bikefriday.com
Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2008 3:28:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Yak] Spokes get brittle?

Its a good job Jobst Brandt doesn't frequent this list or he'd take you 
apart on that statement.  In a properly built wheel (which does not need 
washers) the spokes will not fatigue because they will operate at all 
times within the elastic limits of steel.

Tony


> Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:37:35 -0400
> From: "John S. Allen" <jsallen at bikexprt.com>
> Subject: Re: [Yak] Spokes get brittle? Was "Single Wheel Trailer"
> 
> 
> Stainless steel spokes, now in almost universal use, are shiny too, 
> but it is my recollection that they fatigue (like bending a paperclip 
> bqck and forth till it breaks ) faster than carbon steel spokes, the 
> kind with the dull gray galvanized finish -- unfortunately also nearly extinct.
> 
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