Cad Spokes

[marksg]

Where woulda person get a couple of sets of replica 49' Harley spokes.
Seems Tedd"s are out of stock and there nipples don't look correct anyway.

[Chris Haynes]

I have my old spokes and nipples re-plated. Spokes have to be stress relieved after plating.

[sswaney]

I believe Chris is right, if you need Cad plated you'll have to have them plated. I don't know of anyone selling them new.
I run Buchanan's stainless spokes. Lightly bead blasted they look close to Cad.
I believe they are acceptable on Restored bikes without getting penalized.

[Steve Slocombe]

The original Harley spoke nipples are 40 threads per inch, while the replicas are 32 tpi and not identical. The bead blasted Buchanan and Tedd spoke sets will usually lose a quarter point per wheel for incorrectly shaped nipples when judged.

[otis71]

How do you stress relief replated spokes? I’m almost ready to lace wheels for a restoration project I’m working on. In the past I’ve never done this but I’ve heard when the military used cad they specified everything to be stress relieved.

[exeric]

My recollection is Mil-spec. cadmium plating is stress relieved to minimize hydrogen embrittlement in controlled temperature ovens for a specific duration based on many other factors. I would bet that process would be quite expensive. I have had a lot of spokes re-plated and never had a broken spoke. I also clean, wire brush, Scotch-brite, and examine every spoke so I can see if there is a bad apple in the pile. I would call some of the plating companies advertised in our club magazine to get real world information.

[marksg]

Thanks for all the replies. I have two old wheels. One has correct nipples and the other does not. I could have the good set plated but still need a correct set for the other wheel.
Any sources for the correct spoke and/or nipples?
If good repop are not available I guess I am in the market for a old correct set.

[sswaney]

markg
Please post a picture of the type you're looking for.

[otis71]

16” star hub spokes? I should have an extra set of them or 18” also.

[Steve Slocombe]

I made a batch of new cad plated 3947-29 40 tpi nipples at half the price of the W&W Cycles ones, but still not cheap.

[Chris Haynes]

I bought correct nipples from TOMS NOS PARTS.

[marksg]

Thanks for all the input.
I have two old wheels and I was going to rebuild the hubs and replace rims.
I thought one set was correct and the other aftermarket.
Getting further into it I find one is correct but the hub is bad and I broke one spoke taking it apart.
The other is a later model and not aftermarket.
Going to look for another wheel with a good hub to rebuild and hope to get the correct spokes and nipples so I can get them replated.
I assume they were CAD plated in 49' but looks like the old ones had no plating?

I now will still need to replace one broken spoke and nipple at minimum.
I will wait until I find a wheel and then see what I have.
As you can see, the correct set may not be worth trying to save.

Thanks for the lead on Toms. I buy from him but did not seem them on his website.

Oh and they are 16"
Thanks again.

Spokes.jpg

[Chris Haynes]

They are not on Tom;s website. But he can get them.

[Steve Slocombe]

Tom might get them from J W Boon in Holland, but it looks like the nos ones will be parkerized or zinc. Can anyone date the changes from cad to park and then to zinc?