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Spokes

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Matt2matt2002:
From a Facebook group:
While browsing the Rolhoff page on Peter White's website here in the U.S. I saw this in red letters: 

"Rohloff now requires the use of their spokes, due to changes in the elbow dimensions of most spokes on the market. Use of other spokes to build a wheel with a Rohloff hub can result in failure of the hub flange and will void the hub's warrantee."

My Rolhoff wheels are built with standard Sapim spokes and nipples.  I did rebuild them around 2019 with flange support rings.  I am curious what the story is regarding spoke elbows.

Matt

JohnR:
Rohloff's website gives this guidance on spoke selection https://www.rohloff.de/en/service/handbook/speedhub/assembly/wheel/spoke-choice. It does not exclude the use of other suitable spokes. 

WorldTourer:
Haven’t heard of spoke-related problems in the bicycle-travel world, and word would spread, I think. I wonder if the Rohloff changes in recent years are due to problems reported in the European urban commuter market instead.

mickeg:
There is a small company here in USA called Peter White Cycles.  They are the USA distributor for B&M and a few other small European companies.  And they build wheels with a very good reputation for their wheel building.  Their website cites that DT changed their spoke head dimensions in 2000 and that caused breakage.
https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/spokes.php

DT spokes are commonly used in USA, but when I got back into bikes and built up my first touring bike in 2004, I read that on his website and I only used Wheelsmith spokes (were made about 100 miles from my home) until Wheelsmith went out of business.

I can't comment on the reasoning that Rohloff used, but that is what I assumed.  I used Wheelsmith spokes on my Rohloff wheel when I built it up in 2013, but it was really tough finding spokes that short here in USA where Rohloff hubs were even more rare a decade ago than they are now.  I was unable to find butted spokes in that short a length so mine are straight gauge.  I do not remember if I looked for Sapim spokes or not, I probably did not since I had been using Wheelsmith spokes for almost a decade at that time.

I did not buy my wheel complete from Thorn, built it up myself, mine is 36 spoke.

Andre Jute:

--- Quote from: Matt2matt2002 on March 14, 2024, 07:23:31 AM --- My Rolhoff wheels are built with standard Sapim spokes and nipples. [...] I am curious what the story is regarding spoke elbows.
--- End quote ---

This is about more than just the heads and the elbow "dimensions".

First of all, if your wheel is built with Sapim Strong spokes (you'll know them when you see them -- they have butt-ugly butts), you're okay. The Sapim were designed with Rohloff hubs in mind a whole lotta years and circumnavigations ago.

If your wheel is built with other Sapim spokes, you're still okay. After all, your wheel has served you faithfully through several strenuous tours. The support ring mod was probably gilding the lily too far, but it can't hurt.

Something else to consider before you rebuild those wheels with different spokes: you'll be building in new stresses when there are already different spoke-head impressions in the ali. That strikes me as an unnecessary risk.

The ideal Rohloff spoke, aesthetics aside, is butted, has a particular angle to the bend (and the thickness in the bend is also controlled), and seats the head differently from other applications. Sapim's own Polyax nipples can help with the head seating (by letting the spoke enter the rim at the angle the hub flange requires -- the nipples' trick seating is described by the name, polyaxial). The Polyax nipples are anyway supposed to be used with the Sapim Strong spokes, presumably because you don't want to put uncontrolled stresses on a bunch of spokes that powerful for fear of what else they might bend in unloading themselves.

My everyday bike has a 170kg load rating. I don't suppose I've ever exceeded it but I do sometimes take a solid wood easel with me when there's a wind blowing, probably 50 pounds by itself, and other heavy equipment, and paints are basically earth and rocks in tubes, and I'm no Twiggy, but I've had no cause to use the two Sapim Strong spokes my bike-builder gave me in the "Welcome pack", so I'm a fan of the Sapim Strong despite cringing every time I notice their inelegant proportions.

Check out the link JohnR has posted.

If you're really feeling paranoid, there used to be heavy duty rims made by Exal especially drilled at a special angle for the Rohloff hub. These are the rims I have (without the graphic, of course) but I can't find the description of the drilling of this particular offer:
https://www.starbike.com/en/exal-xl-25-rim-black-28-25-622-vh8.5mm-single-eyelets-36h/

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