MTFCA Forum

Wood wheel Question about a repair for a steel fellow wood spocked wheel: "Is it a good idea to replace a worn out spoke nipple with a wood dowel [''for a low use wheel no touring ] the spokes are otherwise in great conditions
and yes i know new spokes are a better ,but every time i open a sellers book BANG another dollar ..and no one besides sells spokes anymore

Good idea? No.

NO NO NO!
I KNOW people have done this. And I KNOW most of them have worked out okay. And, in theory, IF the right epoxy type glue were used, AND the spoke was otherwise hard and solid, it would probably be alright. HOWEVER! The tenon replacement, being a separate piece of wood from the rest of the spoke, has NO continuous grain running the length of the spoke. The separate piece, inside the "shell" of a spoke, has leverage under force, regardless of the quality of glue and gluing, to split the outer shell of the now hollow spoke just like splitting firewood from a log.

I do know they are out there. People have done that. I have heard people say they have done that. And I will admit to often using parts other people have said they would never use! But I look at things from an engineer's eye. What are the likely "failure modes"? Dowels in a marginal spoke? (It must be marginal because otherwise the tenon would still be good!) That I would not do.

The amount of money it costs to fix the wheels properly is considerably less than what you will pay when they fail.

Stephen

Unless they are out of stock (?) Lang's Snyder's etc carry them.