Yeah...aluminum spokes is just stupid. Next thing ya know, they'll be making aluminum frames, handlebars, stems, seatposts, I-Beam frames on tractor trailers.
Bicycle wheels are different from all the other components on a bicycle because they are prestressed structures. I'm not saying I don't believe they work, but it would take me a lot of convincing to feel comfortable with a prestressed structure made out of aluminum, since aluminum doesn't stretch nicely, and it is exactly the stretch of the steel spokes that give a wheel its structural strength. See below:
Originally Posted by
kenhill3
You don't. Aluminum doesn't elongate like SS spokes. Besides, I9 wheels are propietary and built without any stress to releive, as I understand it.
You understand my problem exactly, I think. Are you saying the I9 wheels support weight by something other than spoke tension? How does that work?
I must be missing something...