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Old 04-14-10 | 06:43 PM
  #45  
stedalus
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Joined: Sep 2008
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You've cherry-picked some nice corner cases there, which I respond to below, but the real point is that NDS and front tension don't have anything to do with each other. There is a spec for tension that applies to DS rear and front, or one for each. NDS is whatever is necessary to get the dish right. On a typical modern wheel, NDS tension will actually be a fair amount less than the front tension. On more exotic wheels, it might be greater, but it's not a sign of a better (or worse) wheelbuild as long as everything else checks out.

I just went out and measured spoke tension on my tandem, conventional 36H Velocity rims, because this bike is loaded like a touring bike might be and has145mm rear dropouts. My Park tensiometer reads ~19 on the front spokes, ~20 on the NDS spokes, and ~21 on the DS. Velocity specs 105-115 kgf for front wheels and 110-120 kgf for rear wheels, so I'm in the range, which might have something to do with the reason my tandem wheels stay true and don't break spokes. I built these wheels a couple of years ago.
With a 145 mm OLD, there's very little dish in that wheel. With a typical 130-135mm hub, your NDS tension is not going to be so high. Also, I don't know what gauge spokes you're using, but based on those readings either your DS is overtensioned or your front is undertensioned (at least according to the specs you quote).

On my single with Rolfs for another instance, Rolf specs 140 lbs. front spoke tension and 180 lbs. DS tension.
I've never seen that drastic a difference in spoke tension for front and rear, but I admit I have no experience with paired spoke and/or low spoke count wheels. In any case, I'd bet that the NDS tension is less than 140.
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