Look at me playing all matchmaker and shit.
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I’m not a good rider but I like to experiment… and I am bit bored about asking for a tool or an item that doesn’t exist. It is a lot faster to build it myself (and sometimes it is extremely easy). Don’t know why people think it is difficult… one just need to take a look and try… 90% of times people can step back and rebuild the original part without any issue
Anybody have any strong feelings with brass vs. aluminum nipples? I’m thinking about these:
Edit: the more I think about this, the more I think the weight savings is mostly in losing the tube and material for the rim. The rest is probably insignificant in comparison. Almost gotta have a steel hub, too. I should probably get brass here.
In all my builds (bike wheels) I’ve used brass. To me the aluminum ones I see on old wheels always look corroded and seized up on the spokes, then they get rounded so you can’t use a spoke wrench on them anymore. That doesn’t seem to happen with brass nipples.
I think you are right about weight… Probably won’t make much difference.
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Thanks much for confirming!
Do folks use straight-pull or j-bend spokes?
Do straight pull unicycle hubs even exist? I can’t think of any
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Theres my answer 
“Mistakes will be made” is my mantra haha. So far, I feel confident though BECAUSE of folks like you. Thanks so much.
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I’m having trouble reconciling that with the overwhelming advice to go double-butted. Unless I’m getting lines crossed, the CX Sprint and Rays are not double-butted.
And I get that what professionals do and what I am advised might very well be two different things, but if we are going all out here - I have no problem taking risks.
Should I go double-butted or CX Sprint/Ray combo? I know there are other options, but as my first build - at some point I just make decisions and then reflect back a year later when building another
Aero spokes are probably tricky to use for your first build (I have never tried those myself…). My comment was mostly about that you can use different spokes disc and non-disc side for a theoretically better built wheel.
You can also use “Race” (2.0-1.8-2.0) spokes for the disc-side and (thinner) “D-Light” (2.0-1.65-2.0) spokes for the non-disc side.
About the spoke nipples. As others pointed out alu nipples are likely not worth the weight savings but if you want something a bit more colorful then that is the way to go.
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Makes complete sense. Thanks so much for the quick response. I’ll be taking your advice.
And I’m going with brass nipples. Thanks so much!
When calculating ERD, how much does the nipple factor in? Can I assume the manufacturers ERD calculation is solid?
Sometimes disclaimers are just noise, and sometimes they really matter. I’m not sure what to make of this one.
Without a drain hole, water in the rim can be quite a pain in the ass. It depends on your riding whether this ever, very rarely or even occasionally happens to you. I occasionally submerge my rim deep and long enough, riding through water for fun or for cleaning off mud.
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I found this on ‘tinternet:
https://spokecalc.io/measuring-rim-erd.php
Seems like a good read for this point.
From my previous discussions re builds/spoke length with Roger - I felt the consensus was that ordering a spoke that’s got a rounded up measurement is fine and that there’s scope to tweak here and there.
Meaning: there’s likely capacity in the lengths ordered to accommodate nipple sizes. Unless the nipples are some super thick, special affair.
In an ideal world you’d use ERD sticks and take multiple ERD measurements across the rim and find the exact figure. But I think that rounding up from a spoke calculator is likely fine.
(When I say rounding up - I mean: eg 257.34 - being ordered as 258)
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Holy cow you summoned up my question and likely answer. Digging in. What kind of sorcerer are you?
EDIT: after reading the article, I’m good with rounding up like you mention. Thank youuu.
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Got this response from the Light Bicycle team:
Thanks for reaching out regarding the spoke lengths for your Light Bicycle AM733 rims. Our team have calculated the needed lengths for you.
We used the unicycle calculator link as the hub dimensions are odd for the flange widths.
We got 254mm for the disc side and 256mm for the non-disc side of this wheel.
This is using a 3-cross lacing pattern and the custom 36h AM733 rim.
For spokes we would suggest D-Light on one side and Race on the other, having the stiffer spoke on the brake side would be preferred.
Please let us know if you have any further questions or need any clarification on these lengths.
In short, this channels all the advice I’ve been given here. Super stoked.
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I do like a company that has customer service on par with their products.
Always found LB really engaged and knowledge- and crucially not dismissing of the unicycle as a ‘thing’ 
It’s going to be a nice build - roll on the wheel build and the results.
(But what frame are you going with? 
)
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It’s a brand new Mad4One Tecno 27.5". All black everything including a brand new Flansberrium black handle.
The new carbon rim setup is gonna be completely black too. I need to figure out how to get rid of the color on the Maxxis tire.
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With respect to aluminium vs brass nipples – as has been said, if you want some nice colours go with aluminium. Looking down at the coloured nipples looks pretty cool when the wheel is rotating 
With reference to rounding off aluminium nipples with a spoke key, go with the double-square nipples I mentioned above; during the build you can do all the work with from the inside and don’t need to put a spoke key anywhere near the head of the nipple on the outside. It can be convenient during the final truing but most of the work is done inside the rim. Note that you’ll need the Sapim tool for these nipples. Also get a decent 4-sided spoke key for use on the outside – I have a DT-Swiss Pro-Line one, it is the kind of tool you actually want to use, it is expensive, but in general you get what you pay for.
If you are going to be riding this in the winter and there is salt on any of the roads, go with brass just to be sure the nipples don’t fester away. However, you probably won’t want to take you shiny new wheel and Mad4One frame out when it can get all corroded…
[Edit: As a quick note – with the double-square nipples, you need to account for these in the spoke length calculation – I can’t remember the details just now unfortunately.]
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Black marker pen…
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