Calling All Metallurgists

[fattyre]

I have an Highwheel bike that I need to make new spokes for. A number of them have now broke. I'm worried that poor little rear wheel is going to collapse.

My question is dose anyone here have knowledge as to a good material to use to make spokes? Stainless? Crome Moly? Steel?

I know pretty much nothing about different types(of any metal) and how that could affect spoke strength. I'd like to think Stainless is a good option but that's based on spokes I've used on modern wheels. Thats also a much different application.


Currently I think the spokes are made of welding rod. I've been told that was pretty common and thats what it looks like. The hubs are brass with threaded spoke holes. Spokes are radially laced, 1/8 rod threaded 4-40 on the one end and smashed down for a spoke head on the other(that's were they're breaking). Length is about 28 inches for the front and 7 1/4 for the rear. Metal finish doesn't matter as they will be painted black.

 

[Andrew Gorman]

In "The Whitney- building a high wheel bicycle" they say to use "high carbon steel" or 303 stainless. I'd ask over at the Wheelmen- they have made a lot of spokes over the years.

 

[rustjunkie]

Perhaps I'm mistaken but I think I've heard of folks using piano wire to make "ordinary" and "safety" bicycle spokes.
A quick google yielded this:

 

[Craig Allen]

For a 1/8" diameter rod, the thread size would be a 5-40, not 4-40.

 

[gkeep]

Hi,
Greg Barron at Rideable Replicas might be able to supply you with the spokes? Check their parts listing. http://www.hiwheel.com/parts/index.htm.

Good luck,
Gary

 

[fattyre]

A quick follow up-

So after tons of research and talking to a bunch of people I ended up here-

https://www.buchananspokes.com/

Buchanan's Spoke did an excellent job making spoke blanks for me.

I than had the heads turned in a lathe to clean them up as well as having them threaded. The spoke heads are not stationary in my application, they rotate when you tru the wheel so having them a little more evenly shaped really helped. In hind sight, Rolled threads would have been nicer but that meant buying a second set of spokes and they weren't cheap.

The wheels are 1000% better. I've put some miles on them and can say it was a worth while upgrade. Spokes are much easier to tru, spokes hold tension much better and have allot less flex when you are riding.


If you ever need highwheel spokes Buchanan's is a really solid option.

 

[TR6SC]

You're right about Buchanan's. I first used them in the late 70's. Motorcycle spokes. Then I made a high wheel unicycle. Buchanan's.

Then came the Columbia Expert. Buchanan's. Finally came the Columbia Standard. The spokes have no threads. The rim end of the spoke has a head. The hub end has an adjuster and then another head. The threads are on the adjuster. The spokes can be loosened or tightened, but they won't come out of the rim. Again, Buchanan's. They headed 96 spokes on one end. These were then run through the adjusters and the rim Then they headed all 96 again! Buchanan's.