Originally Posted by Yellowbeard

Other way around, but I'm referring to the interpretation given in The Bicycle Wheel; top spokes prestress the bottom spokes in order to GIVE them strength in compression, same way steel reinforcing bar can let concrete members take loads that are effectively tension loads. Only the bottom few spokes see significant changes in tension when the wheel is loaded. Either way, pretty sure it's a matter of semantics because it's the balance of forces that are important, and without the other 16 spokes the wheel isn't going to be a wheel.