titanium vs stainless spokes

[saturnsc2]

what's the advantage using titanium spokes? obviously they are light, but which are stronger? which are more resistant to snapping? i tend to snap spokes on the rear wheel drive side of course. i tried regular spokes, & stainless, so far the stainless hold up much better it seems but i never tried titanium. is titanium available in standard sizes? i have 2 old 27 x 1 1/4" rims/ 36 spokes.....

 

[alfeng]

what's the advantage using titanium spokes? obviously they are light, but which are stronger? which are more resistant to snapping? i tend to snap spokes on the rear wheel drive side of course. i tried regular spokes, & stainless, so far the stainless hold up much better it seems but i never tried titanium. is titanium available in standard sizes? i have 2 old 27 x 1 1/4" rims/ 36 spokes.....

Whatever advantage Titanium spokes may seem to have had a half dozen or so years ago has been forgotten other than having a tie-dyed anodized finish as an option ...

If you are still using 27" wheels, then you may want to find a pair of NOS MAVIC MA40 or MA3 rims before you spend the money on Titanium spokes.

FWIW. I recommend that you have your current rims or the fore mentioned MAVIC rims laced x4 on the driveside & x3 on the non-driveside with straight, 14 gauge, stainless steel spokes.

 

[alienator]

what's the advantage using titanium spokes? obviously they are light, but which are stronger? which are more resistant to snapping? i tend to snap spokes on the rear wheel drive side of course. i tried regular spokes, & stainless, so far the stainless hold up much better it seems but i never tried titanium. is titanium available in standard sizes? i have 2 old 27 x 1 1/4" rims/ 36 spokes.....

The only advantage to Ti spokes is their lower weight. Wheels built with Ti spokes generally aren't as hardy/durable/strong as a wheel built the same but with stainless steel spokes (spoke dimensions being equal).

Here's what Sheldon Brown had to say about spokes. Read carefully what he says about building strong durable wheels and the given spoke choice. You can trust Sheldon's word.

 

[Peter@vecchios]

what's the advantage using titanium spokes? obviously they are light, but which are stronger? which are more resistant to snapping? i tend to snap spokes on the rear wheel drive side of course. i tried regular spokes, & stainless, so far the stainless hold up much better it seems but i never tried titanium. is titanium available in standard sizes? i have 2 old 27 x 1 1/4" rims/ 36 spokes.....

Titanium spokes are a poor idea and I don't think they are made anymore anyway.
If you are breaking spokes it because of the build(too low of tension) or you are wacking a rim, either deforms the rim, making tension erratic(low) and then you break a spoke.

Proper rim(use a OpenSport rather than MA-3, as was mentioned..those pulled eyelets out regularly). 14/15 gauge spokes laced 3 cross and built well with proper stress relieveing and you shouldn't break spokes. Are you a heavy rider, in terms of weight or technique? Do you break things?

 

[garage sale GT]

I have never so much as laid eyes on a titanium spoke so this is pure speculation, but if they are about as strong as stainless but only about half as stiff, maybe you could build a wheel with adequate tension which did not go out of true so easily because the spokes could give more without taking on a permanent set. Unless of course it's the rim which yields first.

 

[Peter@vecchios]

I have never so much as laid eyes on a titanium spoke so this is pure speculation, but if they are about as strong as stainless but only about half as stiff, maybe you could build a wheel with adequate tension which did not go out of true so easily because the spokes could give more without taking on a permanent set. Unless of course it's the rim which yields first.

I have messed with wheels with ti spokes a couple of times. They are so flexible they tend to break(lots on CaneCreek wheels and Zipps, maybe 10 years ago) and they don't support the rim well, again, since they are so flexy, being Ti. If you try to get the tension uber-high, then you kill the rim.

 

[pat5319]

I've built hundreds of wheels- I prefer DT double butted spokes 2.0X1.8 with X3 lacing on rear,(with few exceptions) x3, x2 or radial on front, sometimes using thinner spokes, depending on use and rider

The double butted type actually last longer than straight gauge as they are more "supple" the thin part can stretch a bit relieving stress on the ends where they tend to break

I've had good results from Wheelsmith spokes as well

 

[TI Spokes]

I had to register just to post a reply to this thread. Most of the replies I have seen seem anti TI spokes based on assumptions and no real world experience. I had two wheels built for my cross country hard tail in 1996 on white industry hubs and Mavic 221 rims for a 22 Lbs Supercalibre I built. They are extremely light an have been excellent wheels over the years. I raced the bike in the late 90's and have been riding it ever since.

Spokes have been flawless, providing a little bit of a forgiving ride on the hard tail due to the inherent flex of TI. I have never broke a spoke and the have never had any problems with rims staying true. I did hit a huge rock a few years ago hard enough that it cracked the rear rim, no broken spokes and even reused the spokes on the build with a new rim. (Took some looking to find a shop willing to build with used TI spokes.)

I have always been between 180, and 200lbs when riding these wheels and am an aggressive cross country single track type rider but tend not to break things. If I were going to build a conventional wheel set again I would definitely us TI Spokes. My spokes are Marwi (Marwi USA) and they are definitely still made.

One thing to keep in mind is the wheel has to built properly and not over tensioned. Use of a tension meter/gage when building the wheel is key, and mechanics that don't want to work with TI spokes probably just don't want to learn about them or don't want to work out of their comfort zone.

They are definitely the best wheels I have ever ridden however I have no experience with modern wheel sets (like Crank Bros Cobalts) to compare them to.

Cheers.