Tied and soldered spokes

[Scott Summey]

Anyone ever tie and solder their spokes??? Taking apart 74.5 Jackpiner wheels today and found that the rear wheel was tied at the crosses. Being in the bicycle industry I remember back in the 70's/80's where we would tie and solder track wheels for stiffness and strength, just never seen or heard of it in the motorcycle industry.

rear wheel




Scott Summey
Jacksonville, Florida

[paul a. busick]

Hi,  Back in the day when spokes were not a strong as they are today we would safety wire them together where they crossed.  This was done before an event and checked after the event.  Should a spoke break during the event the safety wire would hold the broken spoke in place and keep it from flailing about and doing more damage.  As to the soldering.  I have never heard of that.  I would think that doing so would make a hard spot that would lead to breaking spokes and causing a major wheel collapse.  Amherst Paul

[thrownchain]

Not a good idea, the spokes need to be able to move, I can see tying them together, not making them solid.

[Kip Kern]

Man, I have cut and cussed a lot of those when restoring bikes.  Agreed, spokes have to flex and move to do their intended job.  Also love the folks who "swiss cheese" their machines to save 1 oz. of weight on a 200 pound machine (like it really helps).  Welded up a bunch of that also!:(

[LeeBuff]

I have used small gray zip ties on spokes back in the day and still use them. They will flex with the spokes and hold them in place.  
 Lee Buffenmyer

[charles f call jr]

My 71 six day stripped down mxer the rear spokes are wire tied and have been since I bought it in 1975 76ish