I'm in the middle of rebuilding my RD50 finally. I was replacing the wheel bearings, and preparing to swap tires and clean the whole wheel, when I noticed that on the rear wheel, many of the spokes were not tight and also seemingly bent, and the nipples were really rusty. Figured now was as good a time as any to learn how to re-lace a spoke rim, and I'd get shiny new nipples and spokes to make the rim look nice.
Problem is, I can't find spokes with the correct bend in them. These spokes have a shallow 10 degree bend on the hub end, while all the ones I can find affordably on treats, ebay, etc have 90 degree bends. I have a few options as far as I can see..
-clean up, straighten, and re-use the spokes i have now with new nipples
-buy 180ish mm maxi spokes, which are correct dimensionally, and unbend the ends with heat. Only fear I have with that is possible weakening/fatiguing the metal and having them snap on the road
-pay $100+ for custom spokes
-find the correct spokes that I dont need to unbend
Does anybody know of a place to get the spokes i need, for say, less than $50 for 36? Maybe somebody knows of a wheel from a another bike that uses the same spokes, and is readily available?
They need to be 180-182mm long total length, (subtract 8-10mm for the bent section, I think spokes are measured from the start of the bend to the threaded tip?) 2.85-2.9mm diameter, or 10 spoke gauge. Thanks in advance
