clemsongirl 

I have wheels with bladed spokes. In trying to true one I was having a problem with the spoke twisting a bit with the nipple. I used pliers with tape on the holding surface, are there any good cheap tools for this or better do it yourself solutions?

urbanknight

Turn the nipple slightly past where you want to, then back it off to straighten the spoke back up. This happens on regular spokes too (so you should use the same method), but you just don't see it.

waterrockets 

The easiest way I discovered was to take a piece of wood (2" square, 3/4" thick -- approximately -- size not important), and make a cut in it with a hacksaw, about 1/2" from the end. Of all my handsaws (I'm a woodworker), the hacksaw provided the nicest fit over CX-Rays.

It's gentle to the spokes, easy to hold, and didn't seem to take on any wear during a wheelset I built.

Another trick I learned with this tool is that it makes it very easy to split the friction on tight spokes. First, turn the nipple, and let the blade twist a bit (1/8 turn). Then, hold the nipple in place and straighten the blade. Then you only have to fight the nipple/rim friction by itself, followed by the thread friction, by itself. You'll never round another aluminum nipple again.

Wordbiker

Mavic often ships a plastic bladed spoke holder with their wheelsets along with the specialty wrench for their nipples. It's a simple plastic ring with three slots cut in the outer edge for holding different thicknesses steady while you turn the nipple. If you ask nicely at a local shop they may spot you one for free. I know I have several floating around the bench.

clemsongirl 

Thanks. Free is good so I'll take a big smile to a LBS and see. If not I guess I can go to home depot and get a scrape piece of wood and use a hack saw there and see how that works. Both sound much better than my pliers method. I was letting the spoke turn a bit and then moving it back as I held the nipple tight.
Thanks again.

waterrockets 

Yeah, if you go to home depot, try grab a small scrap from the trim section (should be laying near the handsaw station). Then cut a different sized slot on all four sides with different saws from around HD.

Also, a thumb-sized stick from a tree in your yard will work if you have a neighbor with a hacksaw. I can't stand extra errands, so I'd do just about anything to prevent a trip to the LBS or HD.

Wordbiker

Funny, I never look at a trip to the bike shop as an errand...more like a simple pleasure.

Even though I work at a shop, when I'm out of town I visit other shops, partly to research how we can make ours better, but mostly because I've always loved bike shops. Maybe it's the smell.

waterrockets 

I go to the shop all the time. It's the shed behind my garage

clemsongirl 

poor student = ride bike everywhere and enjoy it

I took my biggest best smile to the bike store but they wanted to sell me a nice steel one for $30 so I went to home depot and did the wood scrap solution. it works well and distributes the pressure over a large area. much better than my plier thing.

thanks again

waterrockets 

glad it worked for you. Really simple solution. I can't believe they can sell the tools -- they're so easy to make.

RE: the errand thing: I commute to work about 95%, but with the family at home, I like to rescue the wife and take over the duties as quickly as I can. If I have to swing by the LBS, I might miss dinner and get home halfway through bath time