Alloy nipples?

a.s.

a.s.

Mr. Chainring
Building up a set of wheels for my DH bike. Thinking of blinging them out with purple (of course) alloy nipples. Mistake? Should I stick with brass? Thoughts?
 
one piece crank said:
I have a few wheel sets I built in the late 80's with alloy nips - never had one bit of trouble.

I also have not used alloy nips since the 80's, only brass, but I don't weight my bikes either ;)
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Nothing to do with weight, only vanity and matchy matchy factor. 😆

edit: But not at the expense of durability.
 
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Damn. Was hoping for:
1675434851785.jpeg
 
Prob be fine , I never had an issue with aluminum nipples . If they fail its not like they will all explode at the same time . Purple is always the correct color choice . Stay away from the bike wash at dh parks the water seems to be more harsh than at home , killington was by far the worst for this .
 
a.s. said:
Nothing to do with weight, only vanity and matchy matchy factor. 😆

edit: But not at the expense of durability.
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I bought purple tubeless valves for the matchy-matchy factor. I wound up dismounting tires, throwing the purple away, and installing quality valves = RPITA.
 
stb222 said:
As you know, I ride in all conditions. Salt absolutely eats alum nipples and will eventually make the wheel un-truable. I am sure you can lube them to avoid that.
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I don’t live by the beach or even like riding my DH bike in the rain, so probably don’t have to worry about it.
 
johnbryanpeters said:
There have been a lot of reports of galvanic corrosion when using Al spoke nipples.
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I can report that it occurred with a set of Enve wheels I owned. When I sent them back for warranty work, all of the (internal) alloy nipples were replaced with brass.
 
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ChrisG said:
I can report that it occurred with a set of Enve wheels I owned. When I sent them back for warranty work, the all of the (internal) alloy nipples were replaced with brass.
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Probably because you rode in below freezing weather.

:p
 
If I lived in the left part of the country I would go light weight all the way. Went DHing in Idaho and Washington and it was easy on the wheels. When I used to hit Platty, Mtn Creek, and the Pa parks I used to beat up my wheels, so I always used brass nips because I was always truing them. I was also a heavier rider so I like the security. In the end for DH I would go brass for strength and get a purple Sharpie. 😜
 
stb222 said:
As you know, I ride in all conditions. Salt absolutely eats alum nipples and will eventually make the wheel un-truable. I am sure you can lube them to avoid that.
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My commuter for 3 years, rain/snow/sleet/salt/shine, had aluminum nipples. Periodic lubrication did the trick, and the nipples were still turn-able when the bike was totalled. Buying cheap aluminum nipples is probably a bad idea, though.
 
I run purple alloy nipples on my Fat Bike and that's probably the worst place to do it. I rebuild the wheels every other year with new nipples but I haven't had any fail yet. Like this bike seriously goes in the ocean 🤣
 
I have a few sets of wheels with alloy nipples. One set is mine, the other 3 are lightweight BMX race wheels for my daughter. In my experience, they have been mildly problematic due to the corrosion mentioned. The nipples freeze up and get hard to turn.

TWSS.
 
I have had Sapim aluminum nipples completely corrode and crumble. I'm sure it was from sealant that leaked through.

Not that it matters but I remember them being silver. I just rebuilt the wheel with brass nipples.
 
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