Weight Weenies

On the DA 9000 and RS81 wheels what do the spoke nipples screw into ? Is there some sort of square washer bonded into the carbon,curious to know what the bulges are for ?

They're for marketing.

Those look like standard nipples, I don't think they screw into anything. The bulge would be to reinforce the area, allowing the part between the spoke holes to be thinner since it doesn't have to withstand the force. It's more expensive to make rims like that, not the least because you need a mold for each spoke hole count rather than making one rim and drilling it.

Cool user name, I rode a 250 and 440 back in the day.

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Your in very select company knowing what a Maico is

The nipples are not standard, the have a slightly bigger cross section area in contact with the rim than a standard nipple.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/au/e ... -prod45541

I went back and forth between wanting a Maico, or a "husky" back then, but all I ever had was a damn bicycle. Lol

Perhaps you were thinking of the dura ace TL version?

Pretty sure the 7850SL, and ultegra 6700s use the same nipples.

These appear to thread into inserts bonded into the carbon - its possible they actually are the same piece as the rim/brake surface as well.

Sure, what I linked to was the 7850-C24-CL nipple but the 9000 and RS81 nipples are essentially the same, just black.

Look closer - there are actual threads on the TL's nipples. The rim beds don't have holes to insert nipples.

see http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techd ... 748432.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
vs
(7900 C24-TL)
http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techd ... 748434.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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The image in the OP is not a TL.