i love radial lacing purely for the aesthetics, especially half-radial lacing on rear wheels. when there comes a question of durability, i relate these two personal experiences:

1. suntour high-flanged track hub radially laced with double-butted spokes to a mavic cxp14, head-on high-speed (at night) collision into a barrier, enough to bend the steel fork back about 3 inches and ripple the down tube and the top tube. wheel was fine, didn't even need truing. (not me on the bike)

2. phil wood high-flange track hub radially laced with phil wood straight gauge spokes to a velocity deep-v, head-on high-speed (at night) collision into a car during an alleycat, enough to shear the carbon fork off on both side 2 inches down from the crown. wheel was fine, didn't even need truing. (me on the bike)

i'll be back with part 2, and why i won't radially lace suntours any longer......