Spokes

Thought the spokes were stainless ? Over the last month the front wheel spokes have spouted lots of lovely rust despite my best efforts washing and jet washing. Not all the spokes are affected, in fact many are squeeky clean. Any ideas on how to halt the rust ?
M

Spokes...........nah, go for Alloys !

Having had spokes snap......on two seperate occasions in the rear wheel, first time in Corfu, second in Eire, I finally got the wheel replaced under warranty.

After this all this snappin stuff, decided to go for Alloys.

Don't rust, won't snap, and much easier to keep clean

CC

most of the "stuff" on the spokes is

brake pad compound, you need to clean it, and yes rust will attach the spokes too.
the newer the model the worst the are.(cheaper parts supplier)

about the broken spokes that is a new fenomenom,is becoming a epidemy for the last 2/3 years.
I make you a bet the spokes that break are the ones that comes from the final drive side and go forward(as oppose to backwards)
and ussually they break in pairs(don't ask I don't know)
a friend of mine and me , made a paper about wheel repair if you want e-mail me and I send you a link.

the BMW spoke wheels are the strongest wheel you can find ,but they do need to be "tune" and keep with equal tension,so all the spokes share the same responsability...

don't polish them....

I asked a similar question of the local beemer dealer and they advised me NOT to polish the spokes (Solvol and the like). They claimed it weakened them and over repeated applications could eventually contribute to snapping

Now this could be over-stating the problem. Even so, I would be tempted to get the rust off by whatever means this time, then wax or whatever to protect. I use some stuff by X-lite (Bike Spray I think it's called) - sold by mountain bike shops, it comes in a tall-ish black plastic bottle with a spray top, about 6 quid. Can't spray directly onto the wheels 'cos of proximity to brakes, so onto a cloth and wipe over.

HTH

BLL