jOe wrote:I imagine that plain steel cadmium plated are somewhat more brittle than just raw steel but not any stronger.
Joe -- I'm guessing you read something about "hydrogen embrittlement" and cad plating.
There's MUCH more to it than tech articles suggest. Almost every single place that continues to cad plate small cross section parts bakes them after plating.
Original spokes weren't treated to such a thing. They were batch plated and used . . . most are now 60-70 years old and still rolling down the road.
It's the cheap spokes that bite you. Buy quality ones from buchanans and you'll never, ever have a problem. If you do -- buchanan's will make it right very, very fast.