DT Swiss Spokes

[MarcHD]

My two cents - If you are going for 2/1.8/2 it is not worth importing spokes yourself unless you are looking for lengths that you can't get here.  Any of the good brands that use Sandvik steel - and that is all of them - are fine.  Sapim, Pillar, WTB, Wheelsmith, DT Swiss and Alpina.  Pick on price and availability.  Brass nipples are a must.  If your hubs are J bend go 3 cross.

I find this conclusion interesting, because to me two brands of spokes being made from the same steel, from the same supplier doesn't mean the quality is the same.

That's like saying the ingredients used by a Michelin star chef and your local pub are the same so the food must be of equal quality?!

[BaGearA]

I find this conclusion interesting, because to me two brands of spokes being made from the same steel, from the same supplier doesn't mean the quality is the same.

That's like saying the ingredients used by a Michelin star chef and your local pub are the same so the food must be of equal quality?!

I'd trust the guy that's been building wheels since i was nappies

[MarcHD]

I'd trust the guy that's been building wheels since i was nappies

Great to hear you trust your wheel builder! Clearly he's doing things right for you and his community which is fantastic to hear! 

 

I respectfully disagree though. 

[nick_the_wheelbuilder]

I have to agree with Dave - any of the quality brands available locally are, for all practical intents and purposes, pretty much equivalent.

 

The black DT Swiss spokes have a more glossy outer finish than any of the others, with the new Pillar spokes a close second. The Alpina spokes have a bit more of a dull finish.

 

The DT Swiss Competition 2-1.8-2mm double butted spokes are great and reliable, as are the Pillar PDB1415, WTB double butted (made by Pillar), Wheelsmith double butted (which are in fact 2 - 1.7 - 2mm).

 

The Alpina spokes sold by Rapide don't have as nice of an external finish, but have proven very reliable in the many builds I've used them for.

 

So what?

 

Go with the brand you're most comfortable with.

 

Personally, and as a professional wheel builder like Dave Marshall, I use the double butted DT Swiss and Pillar (or WTB) spokes interchangeably for 95% of my builds (j-bend, black) and use the bladed spokes from Rapide because of their excellent price and availability, when the need arises.

[Headshot]

I have to agree with Dave - any of the quality brands available locally are, for all practical intents and purposes, pretty much equivalent.

 

The black DT Swiss spokes have a more glossy outer finish than any of the others, with the new Pillar spokes a close second. The Alpina spokes have a bit more of a dull finish.

 

The DT Swiss Competition 2-1.8-2mm double butted spokes are great and reliable, as are the Pillar PDB1415, WTB double butted (made by Pillar), Wheelsmith double butted (which are in fact 2 - 1.7 - 2mm).

 

The Alpina spokes sold by Rapide don't have as nice of an external finish, but have proven very reliable in the many builds I've used them for.

 

So what?

 

Go with the brand you're most comfortable with.

 

Personally, and as a professional wheel builder like Dave Marshall, I use the double butted DT Swiss and Pillar (or WTB) spokes interchangeably for 95% of my builds (j-bend, black) and use the bladed spokes from Rapide because of their excellent price and availability, when the need arises.

The Alpina flat spokes are indeed a rather dull affair but I rather like the stealth look. They also seem to be a little lighter than the equivalent DTs.  My wife's bike has polished DT blades on it and they also look amazing. I shopped on price when I bought the Alpinas. 

[David Marshall]

Great to hear you trust your wheel builder! Clearly he's doing things right for you and his community which is fantastic to hear! 

 

I respectfully disagree though. 

Let me run through my logic more clearly.

 

Wire is made by cold drawing steel rod through progressivly smaller dies until you reach the desired diameter. The quality of the rod, the speed at which you draw the wire and the rate at which you decrease the diameter will have a significant effect on the characteristics and quality of the end product. To my mind the wire used will bring in the biggest possible variation in spoke quality.

 

Lets look at say a double butted 2 mm 1.8 mm 2 mm spoke.

 

The spoke manufacturer will take this 2 mm wire and with a special machine basicly hammer the wire to the desired 1.8 mm in the middle. I doubt that there are many manufacturers of this type of machine so chances are that the process is so similar that you are unlikely to get significant quality differences amongst the major manufacturers.

 

I am saying that if the reputable manufactures us the same Sandvik spoke wire to build the same spec spoke the end product will not be significantly different when it comes to performance in a bicycle wheel. There are differences and you can see them with slight variations on your tension metre when building but again not significant in my experience.

 

As per the op's post I would not go to the point of importing double butted spokes when there are good quality (all imported) ones locally available.

 

[Headshot]

An anecdote. I bought a bike in 2013. The spokes on the very arbitrary wheels were chinese. I have broken precisely one of them despite reusing the same spokes with different length nipples on different rims. These wheel/spokes are now on their third bike, an enduro hardtail and have been hammered over the preceding 7 years.... Cheap and oriental is not necessarily  bad when it comes to spokes it seems.

[EddieV]

Attached is a front and side view of an Alpina spoke from an order a while ago. This Alpina spoke was so badly formed that it wouldn’t pass through the hub-hole. Left spoke is malformed, right spoke is correct.

 

I always order a few extra spokes in case the thread isn’t well turned etc. so luckily had a replacement.

 

I usually only use DT but I needed a batch of spokes on short notice.

 

In my opinion there is a definite difference between DT and Alpina, even if only the QA process.