Originally Posted by
aljohn
I've seen this years ago and also understood that it would make the wheel stiffer. I've no knowledge of whether this is true, but I am curious why you say it doesn't. Out of curiosity I would have thought that the extra triangulation caused by tying spokes where they cross would have helped make them stiffer. Could someone explain, in simple terms, why it doesn't?
Properly tensioned spokes are not affected by the tying, as solder only "holds" the spokes where the tension and crossing dictates. For a wheel that is not properly tensioned, there is a certain amount of rubbing at the cross points, which may be prevented by tying tightly. In either case, solder is much too soft to have a lasting impact on the wheels given the forces that the wheel is under.