On Wednesday, July 17, 2019 at 5:47:23 PM UTC-7, Chalo wrote:
The length of spokes has little to do with tension; it's all about how tightly you do them up.

Sometimes, I use spokes that are a couple or three mm too long so that interference between the tops of the nipple threads and the unthreaded shank of the spoke serves as a mechanical threadlocker. This can keep non-drive side spokes in highly dished wheels from unscrewing, without resort to adhesives that complicate later service.

If your spokes are so overlong that you don't have several intact threads engaged when you reach your desired tension, that's a reason to switch to shorter spokes. But if you don't have more than 3mm of spoke thread poking out the back of the nipple, you haven't come close to using up your leeway..

In the case of janky plastic rims from anonymous Chinese manufacturers, the concern would not be proper spoke length, but whether the rims can tolerate normal operating tension. You may be set to discover why the manufacturer left your wheels so loose to begin with.

Janky is such a harsh term! We call it a value rim! I think Tom said he bottomed out the spokes. Maybe they only have a few threads to save money. Who knows.

-- Jay Beattie.



-- Jay Beattie.