disk wheel spoke lacing

[520 Dan]

humor me here...when you lace a rear wheel, you have to lace at least one side (usually drive) with a cross pattern because of the forces put on the drive side due to pedaling. If you run disk brakes on the front, would the wheel be more durable if you cross laced the disk side of the wheel? are the forces exerted on the disk side similar but opposite to those of the drive side of a rear wheel? Just a thought.

[Xterra Racer]

I'n no expert on this, but one thing I did look at was what Dave Thomas at Speed Dream does (he is considered to be a really top quality custom wheel builder).

For Disc wheels he uses a 32 spoke 3-cross pattern on both sides of the rear wheel and a 32 spoke 3-cross on the disc side and 1 cross heads in on the non disc side of his front wheels.

Don't know if that helps but you can always e-mail him as well. His web site is:

http://www.speeddream.com/index.php

[Joel]

Crossed spokes are better for braking. With disc brakes the tension on the spokes during the braking is bigger so it would be good when you cross them. Although it will only give a small extra wieght: about 10-15/64 spokes, so I would do it. For rim braking, I always use straight spokes in the front because it looks better and it gives a directer wheel.

[bladteth]

Hi,

It is all about torque. Radially spoked wheels are not able to transmit any torque and the hub have to "wind-up" or twist a bit with respect to the rim to propel the wheel. This involves fretting motion in the holes and enormous stresses to the spokes and hub flanges. This is why nobody lace rear or disc brake wheels radially. Driving torque is much smaller than DB induced.