Cutting Spokes

[ridiculous]

After playing around with the dt swiss spoke calculator it says i need 243mm and 242mm spokes. I also searched around the internet and with some old friends, I can get a 50 pack of nice spokes on the cheap but they are 250mm. A long time ago I remember talking about a spoke cutter/threader. Do most bike shops have these? Can I get away with cutting them myself? Do I even need to cut them? Or shut up and go find the right spoke?:banghead:

[skinny mike]

the larger shops should have them. it depends seeing as how the only spoke cutter/threader that i know of is the one made by phil wood and that probably costs the shop around $1500 since it retails for $3150. i would not suggest trying to cut and thread the spokes by yourself. you are better off just spending a little more and getting the correct length spoke.

[Dartman]

There's a shop here in Richmond who charges nearly $2 per spoke for custom length. They have Phil Wood machine.

Save your money and get the right length. Also since the lengths you calculated are within a mm of each other get the same length for all.

For general information/trivia...

Threads on spokes are "rolled" not cut as there is no material removed from the spoke wire. The thread is basically squeezed out of the wire.

[DownCycles_Stef]

Actually the Phil Wood machine isn't the one most shops buy. Bigger shops will get it because they can afford it but most places just buy the Hozan ($139.99 MSRP) spoke thread roller. It does a good job and for cutting it, you can just use a set of cable snips (not wire cutters, true cable snips) and a spoke length ruler. That being said, I always like to just buy the correct length spokes in the first place.

[ridiculous]

Ok will do, thanks guys