Sapim's CX-RAY spokes, which used to come in packs of 20, have changed their packaging format
from long, thin nylon bags
to cardboard boxes designed for 100 spokes.
Are they serious?
I ordered 20 spokes, and I thought the distributor had repackaged them into a 100-spoke box, but
the box itself actually says 20 spokes on it.
These are imported from Belgium, but
we're shipping a lot more air than actual product.
Also, starting November 2024,
the spoke nipples are no longer included with the bent-head CX-RAY.
The CX-RAY Straight and CX Sprint never included them to begin with.
Apart from the 20-spoke bag and the 100-spoke box,
there's also a 500-spoke box.
DT's nipple boxes have also recently changed
from their previous white boxes to paper that's
less likely to upset a goat's stomach,
and they're wrapped in plastic bags, which I think
scores high points for SDGs standards—
even though most people would say it's low.
But there's actually a practical benefit to this. I once ordered DT nipples from a previous distributor,
mixing sizes 14 and 15, and the nipple boxes got crushed inside the shipping carton,
causing 12mm silver nipples to scatter across the bottom of the box.
With them bagged up like this, even if something like that happens,
it's not really a problem.
Even bagged, the box bottoms have changed from what used to be a tuck-style closure
to a lock-bottom (or "jigoku-zoko") design,
which is strong against pressure from the inside, but
weak against external pressure—
just push the bottom a little and it collapses easily.
It's also weak to side pressure. The image above is from a different box, but
I didn't do anything to it—the contents were visible right from the start.
Well, since it's bagged anyway, even if it breaks open,
there's not much harm done.
from long, thin nylon bags
to cardboard boxes designed for 100 spokes.
Are they serious?
I ordered 20 spokes, and I thought the distributor had repackaged them into a 100-spoke box, but
the box itself actually says 20 spokes on it.
These are imported from Belgium, but
we're shipping a lot more air than actual product.
Also, starting November 2024,
the spoke nipples are no longer included with the bent-head CX-RAY.
The CX-RAY Straight and CX Sprint never included them to begin with.
Apart from the 20-spoke bag and the 100-spoke box,
there's also a 500-spoke box.
DT's nipple boxes have also recently changed
from their previous white boxes to paper that's
less likely to upset a goat's stomach,
and they're wrapped in plastic bags, which I think
scores high points for SDGs standards—
even though most people would say it's low.
But there's actually a practical benefit to this. I once ordered DT nipples from a previous distributor,
mixing sizes 14 and 15, and the nipple boxes got crushed inside the shipping carton,
causing 12mm silver nipples to scatter across the bottom of the box.
With them bagged up like this, even if something like that happens,
it's not really a problem.
Even bagged, the box bottoms have changed from what used to be a tuck-style closure
to a lock-bottom (or "jigoku-zoko") design,
which is strong against pressure from the inside, but
weak against external pressure—
just push the bottom a little and it collapses easily.
It's also weak to side pressure. The image above is from a different box, but
I didn't do anything to it—the contents were visible right from the start.
Well, since it's bagged anyway, even if it breaks open,
there's not much harm done.