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I broke a spoke and could hear the nipple rolling around inside my rim. I just took the tyre and tape off to retrieve the nipple and replace the spoke and I found all sorts of interesting things rolling around in the void.
From left to right: nipple, probably a little gasket that was around the old nipple, weird ball bearing looking things? What on earth are the ball bearing things?
They're not particularly round and I was able to crush a third into a sort of powder between my fingers. Are they something that dried out of my sealant (stans race)?
You get some funny aluminium oxide and dried sealant balls inside rims some times.
Probably machining debris/filings that’s been tumbling in the wheel along with sealant, that’s why it’s ball shaped
That makes sense. The other odd thing is that they were making a hell of a racket but it only started after they spoke broke.
I did finish my day riding after it happened so maybe some mud just got in via the nipple hole.