Berd polymer spokes

[jever98]

How does it ride with the Berd spokes?

[alcatraz]

Cool wheels. I'm wondering what will happen as you rack up km and over a longer period of time.

/a

[Klaster_1]

How does it ride with the Berd spokes?

Like regular spokes, really. I didn't ride this bike since last year, so it's difficult to compare, but I did notice anything worth mentioning.

Cool wheels. I'm wondering what will happen as you rack up km and over a longer period of time.

If anything happens, I'll leave a message in a build thread or here.

[UpFromOne]

Klaster1, looking at your hub photo, did the mechanic just tie a knot in each "spoke" at the hub end to secure it in the flange?

[Klaster_1]

Klaster1, looking at your hub photo, did the mechanic just tie a knot in each "spoke" at the hub end to secure it in the flange?

No, the spokes come with loop on one end from the factory. The loop can either be plugged with a small plug (just a short section of spoke, the method) or another spoke if hub flange construction allows for it. The Berd installation guide refers to former as "Standard, Non-Interlacing Hub Method" and later as "Interlacing Hub Method".

The CyberFront/Rear SPD-2 have arrived today, I initially planned to lace them to Berd too, but radial lacing flanges impose a limit on how thick the protruding spoke end can be. Berd spokes protrude for ~2-3mm, so you might not be able to put the end cap back at all. I've emailed Brad to inquire on the subject.

If this particular hub/spoke combo turns out to be incompatible, I'll have to look for another set of lightweight spokes. Since I'm only ~65kg and don't produce much power at all, maybe the Pillar X-TRA Lite Ti will do? The 9.5USD price per spoke at FWB is even more expensive than Berd, though Anyone know where else to source these?

Update: the CyberFront SPD-2 has removable flanges, which means easier spoke installation. Still concerned if endcap will rub the protruding loops or not.

Update 2: according to Berd, the straight pull radial spokes can only be laced with plugs. That leaves the question up to available clearance, I should have a pair of spare spokes left, so I'll try to pull these in and see how it fares.

[ergott]

Update 2: according to Berd, the straight pull radial spokes can only be laced with plugs.

Curious why that is.

[Klaster_1]

Update 2: according to Berd, the straight pull radial spokes can only be laced with plugs.

Curious why that is.

Here's what Berd said:

For J-bend, the leading and trailing spokes leave the hub going the opposite direction so the spokes can use each other's loops. With radial, all the spokes leave the hub going the same direction so the loops can't be looped together. As an aside, we are not recommending the interlacing method any more because it complicates spokes length calculations and takes longer to lace.

[Klaster_1]

I think Extralite CyberFront SPD-2 won't work with Berd PolyLight: the endcap rubs the spoke loop, which might potentially cause the failure of either. Then there's also a problem of how to put the endcap on with all spokes pulled through the flange.

[UpFromOne]

Wish they could make a double length spoke (with both ends threaded), then just thread into one hub hole and out the adjacent hole.

Or a graphene spoke.

[TheKaiser]

Wish they could make a double length spoke (with both ends threaded), then just thread into one hub hole and out the adjacent hole.

Or a graphene spoke.

Or how about one long spoke that weaves back and forth from hub to rim all the way around, so you'd only need a single spoke for each side of the wheel...wait a sec, nevermind, I just reinvented the Sugino/Tioga Tension Disc.

[MaraudingWalrus]

Apologies for not being more responsive on here. I am not a regular forum poster here, but have added to my Tapatalk so I should get notifications now.

The customer has ridden the wheels a bit, but not a ton as they're recovering from injiey, but liked them enough to have me rebuild another set of wheels with Berds.

The process has gotten a lot better. They have a builder kit which has tools that help the process a lot.


I've posted more about it on the wheel building subreddit, /r/wheelbuild, where I'm more active.

I rebuilt a Kinlin XR200, Extralite CXRay wheelset. It went from 1141g down to 1038g. Pretty good savings on a relatively low spoke count wheel.

[Klaster_1]

@MaraudingWalrus nice build, too bad ExtraLite doesn't make J-bent road disc hubs.

[beanbiken]

I'm sure there are positives beside weight with this system but the anal part of me doesn't know if it could handle as the spokes discolored over time..........

BB

[alcatraz]

Just put the spokes in the washing machine with the rest of your white undies. Select "delicate" setting

[Kayrehn]

They told me black ones will be out within half a year in march and yesterday they said the same thing too. Am quite disappointed because I have a wheel to rebuild and was waiting for that to come.

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