Hi, I was wondering what should I do in this case, should I undo the whole tieding and get back to a more conventional setup?
My spokes are Sapim CX ray so made in aluminium.
Should I put a rust treatment on them or let it as it is?
Thank you !
by FlatiK
15 Comments
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Sapim CX Ray are stainless. Remove the ties, they do nothing but serve as cosmetics.
Clean and apply corrosion inhibitors regularly.
Ummmm… wut? I have never seen this before in my life. Time to get a new wheel, my man. I mean, leave it alone if it’s not doing anything right now, but start looking for a decent deal on a used wheel locally or a cheap replacement wheel online.
You could take a little steel brush and try to get the rust off, then put some oil on them, or maybe some clear nail polish. The anti-rust stuff may change the black coating on the spokes, I’m not sure I’d try that.
CX-Ray spokes are stainless steel.
Oh wow. I just read about that recently because I was building a wheel and my spokes were just a little too long so I did a half twist of the spokes that crossed each other to take up a little length.
I looked it up to see if it was a thing and that’s when I happened upon that soldering technique you have there. Apparently neither thing has any real advantage. You could unsolder them if you wanted to.
https://preview.redd.it/f81drg4pwike1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd2c57a380975a2e971235670334f7e719480744
I don’t think anybody makes aluminum spokes. They would fatigue too fast. Sapim says CX ray is stainless steel.
Possible a high carbon steel was used for the wrapping wire. I’d probably just paint it with some rust converting paint.
No they’re steel. It says so on their websites. Aluminum spokes basically don’t exist.
Depends on what solder you used, some flux, heat and a light scrub with a sponge might be enough. Then I would personally lightly coat with boiled linseed oil.
I did something similar. Despite loads of forum people screaming about how there were no benefits, that heavily abused fixie wheel never came off true.
I would just replace them. Spokes are an expendable part to me. But am I missing a trend here?
I’m guessing it’s whatever wire they used to tie the spoke. I would just brush it off and coat in light oil
CX-Rays are made from stainless steel. If the person who tied and soldered the spokes used copper wire (one common way to do this) or specific other metals (no clue what was commonly used to do this, someone else can chime in) you’re possibly seeing galvanic corrosion. In this case, the steel corrodes with prolonged contact with copper. Stainless steel resists corrosion but can still rust under the right circumstances. That section is likely weaker due to the corrosion.
I’d gently remove the ties and ride the wheel until a spoke breaks in that middle section. From there, rebuild the wheel vs new wheel day.
Your spokes are not aluminum, they’re stainless as others have said. What others haven’t mentioned is that stainless doesn’t mean “rustproof”, it means stains – less. It’s still susceptible to rust just significantly less so.
It’s more likely that dried flux from soldering has stained the spokes, or rust from the tie wire. If the spokes are rusting, it’s probably only surface level. A gentle abrasive with some alcohol should take care of that. apply some light oil like rustcheck, lps-1 or Kroil afterwards to protect it and you’ll be good to go.
Why doesn’t the soldering affect the heat treating of the spokes? Steel will begin to lose its temper at 350 degrees F, 500 degrees for sure. Solder temperature. I understand that frames are often brazed, a lot hotter, but that is tube mostly in twist not tension like a spoke. Clean them and paint them, safest.
Honestly, I’d ignore it until that time if/when a spoke breaks. If they were soldered well (and there’s solder adhesion to the SS spoke, which there appears that there is) then it’s going to be a right-pain to remove the wrap, and will necessitate far more heat than (hopefully) was originally used.
Presuming the job was done well (and the spokes were not overheated) then the worst that can happen by leaving them is that you get some cosmetic flaws. While carbon steel and stainless steel are not next-door neighbors on the galvanic potential chart, they are close enough that it’s a slow-ass problem, like lifetime long.
Never did understand the point in soldering spokes.