What is the point of fancy spoke patterns?
02-27-07, 10:14 PM
#1
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What is the point of fancy spoke patterns?
Are they really any better? Fewer spokes in a unique pattern might look cool, but do they ride better?
When I see custom wheels that can be built with decent hubs, 32 spokes, and a solid lightweight rim,
for 3-400 bucks, what's the point of taking a chance on something that looks good and may or may not perform....
When I see custom wheels that can be built with decent hubs, 32 spokes, and a solid lightweight rim,
for 3-400 bucks, what's the point of taking a chance on something that looks good and may or may not perform....
02-27-07, 10:17 PM
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You know you want to.
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Originally Posted by miater
Are they really any better? Fewer spokes in a unique pattern might look cool, but do they ride better?
Originally Posted by miater
When I see custom wheels that can be built with decent hubs, 32 spokes, and a solid lightweight rim,
for 3-400 bucks, what's the point of taking a chance on something that looks good and may or may not perform....
for 3-400 bucks, what's the point of taking a chance on something that looks good and may or may not perform....
And some fancy spoke patterns that require less spokes are done because less spokes = lighter.
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02-27-07, 10:24 PM
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yes, I answered myself...I'm just wondering if anyone wants to try to change my mind before I pull the trigger on an ebay item I'm looking at...
02-27-07, 10:27 PM
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The better wheels with fewer spokes are noticeably lighter weight and/or noticeably more aero. Some of the cheaper ones are just designed to look like the better ones (for OCPs on a budget). Some are just cheaper.
02-27-07, 11:02 PM
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Originally Posted by miater
Are they really any better? Fewer spokes in a unique pattern might look cool, but do they ride better?
02-28-07, 08:40 AM
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You mean there was supposed to be a point? I think they just look purdy.
02-28-07, 09:44 AM
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Originally Posted by slowandsteady
You mean there was supposed to be a point? I think they just look purdy.
02-28-07, 10:08 AM
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Originally Posted by slowandsteady
Now that is unusual. Does that wheel even spin?
Look closer, there is something else unusual on that bike.
02-28-07, 10:19 AM
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Originally Posted by lawkd
Crankset on the opposite side! Why?
Why Why Why?
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02-28-07, 10:19 AM
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Originally Posted by lawkd
Crankset on the opposite side! Why?
02-28-07, 10:30 AM
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Originally Posted by slowandsteady
It is an anti-OCP device.
02-28-07, 10:37 AM
#15
ride, paint, ride
Originally Posted by Grasschopper
Why do hipsters do anything they do? Why stick all of those cards in the rear spokes? Why do the stupid spoke twisting?
Why Why Why?
Why Why Why?
02-28-07, 10:37 AM
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That bike rocks! ...until the copycat's start to roll in...
02-28-07, 11:22 AM
#17
NFL Owner
Originally Posted by lawkd
So true. And the spoke twisting really is stupid, the wheel ends up very unstable.
02-28-07, 11:31 AM
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I can't see the BB, but a while back I screwed up installing a American -> English adapter and debated just installing the crankset on the left. Probably should have, ended up costing me $20 to get the screws on the adapter tapped out after I accidentally stripped them (and destroyed 2 allen wrenches) trying to fix the mistake.
02-28-07, 11:41 AM
#20
Making a kilometer blurry
Originally Posted by lawkd
So true. And the spoke twisting really is stupid, the wheel ends up very unstable. But as Gerd Schraner says about spoke twisting in "The Art of Wheelbuilding", better to have young bike punks rolling spokes than rolling joints. As if they aren't doing both...
02-28-07, 12:28 PM
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Also there's a spoke missing from the rear, all that effort in the front, and can't be bothered to fix on broken one on the rear... obviously has issues. His father probably pushed him too hard to be a football player and this is how he rebels.
02-28-07, 01:15 PM
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Originally Posted by lawkd
the wheel ends up very unstable.
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02-28-07, 01:21 PM
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Left side drivetrain might have been done to get a perfect chainline without flipping the bottom bracket spindle. Although, the bike in that photo is a track bike, so it ought to have a symmetrical bb spindle.
Way back in the 1980's, before mass-produced boutique wheels existed, I saw some paired-spoke wheels hanging in a shop window. They were custom built using campy 36 hole hubs and some of those super-light tubular rims you can't get anymore, GL 220's or something. The wheelbuilder only used 18 spokes per wheel, but he couldn't just skip every other hole because the holes were offset left and right. So, he skipped every other two holes, et voila, paired spoking. I remember them being 2x front and rear.
I can only imagine the wheels were incredibly flimsy, and difficult to build.
Way back in the 1980's, before mass-produced boutique wheels existed, I saw some paired-spoke wheels hanging in a shop window. They were custom built using campy 36 hole hubs and some of those super-light tubular rims you can't get anymore, GL 220's or something. The wheelbuilder only used 18 spokes per wheel, but he couldn't just skip every other hole because the holes were offset left and right. So, he skipped every other two holes, et voila, paired spoking. I remember them being 2x front and rear.
I can only imagine the wheels were incredibly flimsy, and difficult to build.
