Spoke Preparation



Rich8P

New Member
Jul 21, 2006
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I met a guy who told me he prepared his spokes with some kind of lubricant to reduce air resistance.

Anyone else heard of or tried it?
 
Rich8P said:
I met a guy who told me he prepared his spokes with some kind of lubricant to reduce air resistance.

Anyone else heard of or tried it?
I think you may have misunderstood the reason for spoke preparation. Sheldon Brown says:
"Spoke threads and spoke holes in the rim should generally be lubricated with light grease or oil to allow the nipples to turn freely enough to get the spokes really tight. This is less important than it used to be due to the higher quality of modern spokes, nipples and rims, but it is still a good practice. In the case of derailer rear wheels, only the right side spokes and spoke holes need to be lubricated. The left side spokes will be loose enough that it will not be hard to turn the nipples even dry, and if you grease them they may loosen up of their own accord on the road."
 
Thanks,

I think I got the wrong end of that one! I've started to read Sheldon's site. Very good.