I'm researching wheel components to build my first pair of wheels for my tourer.
what's the difference between black and silver spokes bar the colour?
they're more expensive and an online shop which build wheels (sjs) charges more for building wheels with black spokes than silver???
Why?
I imagine making them black is an extra process. Extra processes cost extra pounds.
No way should someone charge extra for building with black. That smacks of cashing in on fashion to me. There is no difference in the build process for black or silver spokes.
Performance wise, there is an argument that black spokes are marginally weaker but I don't go for that all. I've built loads of wheels on black spokes with no worries at all. I personally prefer silver but that is due to liking the look rather than anything else.
I've found that black spokes can scratch, so maybe need extra care, which equals extra time, when building for a customer?
APF
If it's the same spokes the strength should be the same. Early black spokes were often cheap and broke, tarnishing the reputation.
No way do black spokes take longer to build. Find a new shop, seriously, I've built dozens of wheels with black spokes, professionaly.
Agree completely with Al here.
I'm building my own wheels. i've been researching components to build touring wheels and I think they should be black for that particular bike.
I'm going for Deore hubs with rigida sputnik rim and DT competion spokes.
from what I could read, that'll do a nice pair of strong wheels.
Black spokes if a decent quality (DT, Sapim) Don't scratch easily at all.
They don't take any longer to build but are more expensive to buy, hence why a build with black cost more. The're around twice the price of silver (DT are anyway) to buy in.