• Err on the short side for spokes, but you should be OK with 292 all round if your calculations are right. Avoid DT Champs or other plain gauge spokes, they are a false economy. Rosebikes will sell you DT Comps for €6.80/20 or €0.38 ea. plus nipples at €2.00/40, so 64 will be under €35 including postage. Depending on whether your shop was including nipples or not (probably not, in boxes of 100), that's either cheaper than your LBS or a major upgrade for only €5

    Are you really getting Novatecs for €38 on Aliexpress, or is there shipping and tax to add to that? Planet-X have 32H Novatecs for €36.44 in black or €54.67 in silver, already in the EU with VAT paid.

  • Nipples are included in the €30, 100 Comps with nipples would be €48. What's the advantage of double butted over plain gauge besides weight? There's a 62 gram weight difference with 64 spokes, I'm not too fussed about that on a 2kg wheelset.

    I looked at the Planet X hubs but they have a matte rear and glossy front (or the other way round) in black and I'd prefer silver. Shipping is included in the €38 and I've never had to pay tax on sub €100 things (knocks on wood). I'm not in a rush so I'll wait and get the color I want for slightly cheaper as well.

  • What's the advantage of double butted over plain gauge besides weight?

    Has this question never been answered in over 100 pages? Wow, wheelbuilding thread, I am disappoint! Oh well, there's always google with nearly 750,000 results, albeit polluted by alarming amounts of misinformation. For best results, let's quote Jobst Brandt:

    *Spokes are in pure tension at midspan where they do not need to resist bending,
    so they can be swaged thinner there without sacrificing strength. Swaged spokes
    are made by drawing regular spoke wire through a reducing die. After swaging,
    the unreduced ends are formed the same way as unswaged spokes. The diameter
    reduction increases spoke elasticity, increases strength by work hardening, and
    reduces weight. However, the most valuable contribution of swaging is that peak
    stresses are absorbed in the straight midsection rather than concentrated in the
    threads and elbow, thereby substantially reducing fatigue failures
    . Swaged
    spokes act like strain screws commonly used in high-performance machinery.*

    Where he says "swage" he is talking about the process which results in the spoke becoming butted. That's partly a matter of 1970s American usage, and partly Jobst being a production engineer rather than a mere consumer, so he concerns himself with how something is made rather than what comes out at the end.

    Owning a copy of "The Bicycle Wheel" should be a qualifying requirement to participate in this thread, since it would be only 10 pages long if all the questions which are already answered by Jobst were not posed here :-)

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