My local shop is small - very small and there's simply no demand for black spokes. The loyal and happy customer that I am was more than willing to source the spokes from another local shop. Apparently DT Swiss only sells them in sets of 100, I think, and it wasn't worth it to have only 16 292's and 16 294's for only one customer. They sell for $1 a pop. Thanks for the site - but my question now is, is there a difference in riding? Or is it just durability?