# Columbia Chainless Spoke Advice



## vuniw (Oct 11, 2015)

Picked up this 1905 girl's Columbia chainless at the Hershey flea market. I am excited because it looks good next to my 1899 men's Columbia chainless as they are in the same condition. Only problem is I need to respoke the back wheel. Does anybody know where I can get some of these spokes or is this something I am going to have to make on my own? Any advice would be great!


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## catfish (Oct 11, 2015)

Ball end spokes are hard to find. You might have to buy another rim and hub hat already have them. You should ask on the Wheelmen site. I know someone repoped them about 25 years ago.


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## Rambler (Oct 11, 2015)

I personally haven't tried it but heard of some using Straight Pull Spokes and grinding down the head to fit the hub.

http://www.cambriabike.com/DT-Swiss...rm=100060453&gclid=CISztoK-u8gCFQEPaQodDFEOwg


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## vuniw (Oct 11, 2015)

Thanks for the advice. I'll check with some wheelmen friends and I found an old thread about making some ball end spokes here on the CABE. They don't need to be perfect as it will be more of a display bike than a rider. I do need some straight spokes too though for a Crawford tandem I am working on. Do you know of anywhere cheaper to get straight spokes? $4.95 per spoke is a little steep


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## David Brown (Oct 12, 2015)

Are you looking for new straight pull spokes or used ones for your Tandem ? i do have 27 straight pull spokes with nipples 11 7/8  tip to tip  they are used.


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## filmonger (Oct 13, 2015)

Try Rick at Wheel Fanatyk .. ( http://www.wheelfanatyk.com )  He made some a few years back and his brother also is part of Wheelsmith spokes ( If I remember correctly ) http://www.wheelsmith.com

Here is one of the pages
http://www.wheelfanatyk.com/blog/some-spring-news/


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## highwheel431 (Oct 13, 2015)

Straight pull spokes up to 308mm

http://www.ebay.com/itm/72-Custom-l...ycle-spokes-/281804086959?hash=item419cd51eaf


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## GiovanniLiCalsi (Oct 13, 2015)

Contact Mike Cates. They can be made.


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## highwheel431 (Oct 14, 2015)

Here is the process that I am in the middle of to make ball end spokes.  Let me start the conversation with the fact that I have not yet built up a wheel with these spokes to determine their integrity.   I am making these from original 1890's spokes as I don't want to do a restoration to the bike and new spokes would not look correct. The spokes that I need are 308mm in length.  Here is the process:
Cut the head off the "j" to make the blank about 310mm.
Turn/file/sand the butted section of the spoke down to the .063/.060 dimension of the center of the spoke (make sure it fits into the slot in the hub.
Thread the spoke with a 1-72 die about 4-6 threads (depends on how much taper or point is on the end of the spoke).
Thread on a 1-72 nut, adjust to the proper length spoke, in my case 308mm.
Silver solder the nut in place.
Chuck spoke and file the solder round.
Dip the ball end of the spoke into a product like Permatex Rust Treatment to dull down the cleaned metal from the turning.

I believe that these will work for a display bike, but the strength of the threads and the solder are yet to be proven.  I may be wrong and the nuts will all strip off during the wheel build.


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## vuniw (Oct 14, 2015)

Very nice! That seems reasonable. I'll give that a try this weekend and I'll post pictures if I make any progress


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## filmonger (Dec 2, 2015)

I Like your solution........Here is ricks from 2012




http://www.wheelfanatyk.com/blog/some-spring-news/


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## bricycle (Dec 2, 2015)

it would be time consuming, but couldn't the bend be taken out of standard spokes with a pencil tipped torch?


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## redline1968 (Dec 2, 2015)

highwheel431 said:


> View attachment 243112Here is the process that I am in the middle of to make ball end spokes.  Let me start the conversation with the fact that I have not yet built up a wheel with these spokes to determine their integrity.   I am making these from original 1890's spokes as I don't want to do a restoration to the bike and new spokes would not look correct. The spokes that I need are 308mm in length.  Here is the process:
> Cut the head off the "j" to make the blank about 310mm.
> Turn/file/sand the butted section of the spoke down to the .063/.060 dimension of the center of the spoke (make sure it fits into the slot in the hub.
> Thread the spoke with a 1-72 die about 4-6 threads (depends on how much taper or point is on the end of the spoke).
> ...




Wow very nice I have the same problem I'll try it out thanks


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