KLabs wrote:thisisatest wrote:Klabs,
sorry, but there are quite a few parts of that quoted article that are way, way off base.
Equalizing left/right tension on a rear wheel does not help lateral stiffness.
Crossing spokes does nothing for radial stiffness.
Interlacing spokes can reduce spoke head movement, but its benefits are debatable. Many modern wheel systems, with and without straight pull spokes, forgo interlacing due to the results of their testing.
Spoke head movement isn't reduced to cut down on power loss due to friction.
there is more there, but that's all I remember...
Thanks thisisatest, no worries and appreciated. If you don't mind me asking ...
Equalizing left/right tension on a rear wheel does not help lateral stiffness ... other than bracing angle, what would you say helps lateral stiffness and why are builders so intent on using the 16:8 or 2:1 lacings?
Crossing spokes does nothing for radial stiffness ... what would you say helps radial stiffness?
Interlacing spokes can reduce spoke head movement, but its benefits are debatable. Many modern wheelsystems, with and without straight pull spokes, forego interlacing due to the results of their testing ... are you able to expand on this. Were the tests with 2x, 3x and/or 4x lacings?
Spoke head movement isn't reduced to cut down on power loss due to friction ... I do not remember mentioning Spoke head movement, but what would you say helps improve power loss in a wheel?
Personally, I'm a fan of 2:1 lacing. It does even out tensions to a large degree. If starting with a clean sheet of paper, one could then move the left flange to the left even more, increasing the bracing angle of the left side even more, increasing lateral stiffness, and still have decent tension differential.
The benefits are a product of many changes, not merely evening out tension. Conventionally, evening out tension means moving the left flange in towards the right. This trades lateral stiffness IN BOTH DIRECTIONS for a gain of left spoke tension. If the system does not load the wheel sideways at all (like if it was only going to be used on an indoor trainer), then spoke fatigue life could be improved with this. otherwise, it's a big fat fail.
Radial stiffness is mainly increased by using a rim with a very tall, triangular cross section. Think aero wheels. The newer blunt edge aero wheels give back a little radial stiffness. Whether increasing radial stiffness is a good thing or a bad thing is up to you.
Interlacing test results- I personally have not seen the results. If interlacing was beneficial, all the big companies with their wheelsystems would be doing it. Most are not. Considering all the effort a wheelbuilder puts in to making the spoke as straight as possible from flange to nipple, it is a bit odd that we choose to introduce a kink in the middle.
Power loss in a wheel is not a big issue, I don't believe it is even considered in wheel design. High lateral stiffness, sufficient torsional stiffness, spoke fatigue life, rim fatigue life, rim durability, serviceability, etc. (and aesthetics!) are the main issues.