Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - spokes tied and soldered to increase stiffness???

does anyone know if tying the spokes and then soldering them really facilitates power transfer? if so i might give it a try, would there be any set backs from doing this?

''Spokes are tied and soldered to increase stiffness which in turn facilitates power transfer.'':eek:
http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad264/timepsace/TiedSoldered.jpg
taken from;
http://www.abovecategorynews.com/2008/06/landshark-track-bike.html

img url;http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wSwJTtpmzvA/SEQUZAkuUUI/AAAAAAAAAUc/gvgu1Wrfo_o/s1600-h/Tied,+Soldered.jpg

Bad idea! The spokes need to flex a little in order to produce the power. If you were to solder them together, they are not going to function the way they were designed, and I could not see any benefit from doing this... If it was so fantastic, it would have been done by the pro's

Good point mr licphoto

Why does everybody assume my name is Lil or Lilcphoto... That's my businesses name...not my own... I am not Mr. Lilcphoto...my name's Alex.

http://yarchive.net/bike/tying-and-soldering.html

Supposed to artificially increase the size of the hub. Not really a bad idea, but not really any big gains or power transfer.

Nostalgic? Yes.

Icing on the cake to a quality, hand-built wheel.

Why does everybody assume my name is Lil or Lilcphoto... That's my businesses name...not my own... I am not Mr. Lilcphoto...my name's Alex.

hahahahhaha dude my bad i totally didnt see that is said "My name is Alex" on the bottom... it was ur screen name so thats what i called you:rolleyes:

Its like tieing shoe lace!

With your shoes untied it takes forever to run.

With them tied down tight you can run fast as crap.

.... Doesn't really work like that but w.e

If it was so fantastic, it would have been done by the pro's

It was. Before they realized there was no appreciable benefit.

would there be any set backs from doing this?

For one, it would make replacing damaged spokes an unholy terror. Although, as that Brandt note seems to imply, maybe that was the point.

just use better spokes and build the wheel better. the stiffest and strongest wheels actually aren't as highly tensioned as you think. flex is definitely a necessity.

The late Sheldon Brown cleared this up...

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/tied-soldered.html

For the tl;dr crowd- tying/soldering offered no appreciable benefit to the wheels.

Icing on the cake to a quality, hand-built wheel.

You have it spot on, while the soldering doesn't actually make a real difference, you would only bother to tie and solder an already fantastic wheel.