Shall I round up or round down spoke length?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Stanley664

New Member
I know this question has been asked before but in quite different circumstances so would like the opinion from anyone who knows about wheel building.
The spokes I want come in the lengths 265,267,269 and I have used a spoke calculator which says 268.1 non drive side and 266.8 drive side.
Thanks
 

vickster

Legendary Member
 

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
266.8 should definitely be rounded up to 267, that's a no-brainer.

268.1 could go either way. I would probably opt for 267 for both sides in this scenario, mainly for the convenience of only having to order one length of spokes. Roger Musson advises a limit to your rounding of 1mm either way, but I reckon you could get away with rounding down by 1.1mm.

However, I am not an expert so don't take my word for it.

Possibly also depends on the method you have used for calculating your spoke lengths.
 

PpPete

Legendary Member
Location
Chandler's Ford
Beware: Roger Musson's online calculator has changed recently. Unlike other calculators it now gives MINIMUM lengths - and he says you must round up any theoretical value it gives you. On my most recent build it gave values about 0.5mm shorter than any other calculator.

We don't know what calculator the OP used - but even if it was a more conventional calculator then rounding up by 0.9mm will not create any issues of bottoming out the threads.
 
Last edited:

Spoked Wheels

Legendary Member
Location
Bournemouth
Beware: Roger Musson's online calculator has changed recently. Unlike other calculators it now gives MINIMUM lengths - and he says you must round up any theoretical value it gives you. On my most recent build it gave values about 0.5mm shorter than any other calculator.

We don't know what calculator the OP used - but even if it was a more conventional calculator then rounding up by 0.9mm will not create any issues of bottoming out the threads.

That is true, although the difference with the new calculator is hardly noticeable. In any case with the old calculator you would round up to 269 and to 267 too

. I would probably opt for 267 for both sides in this scenario, mainly for the convenience of only having to order one length of spokes.

I reckon you can do that too.
 
OP
OP
S

Stanley664

New Member
0C3C7F1F-E540-4394-99E6-F90C531A9EC2.jpeg
That is true, although the difference with the new calculator is hardly noticeable. In any case with the old calculator you would round up to 269 and to 267 too



I reckon you can do that too.
Thanks a lot really appreciate it I think I used a standard calculator but what do you think of it in the picture ?
 

PpPete

Legendary Member
Location
Chandler's Ford
I'd want to check the measurements for myself (especially the rim) before I committed to purchasing spokes.
The problem with the databases of components is that they don't know when the manufacturers have 'updated' their product.
 
Top Bottom