Originally Posted by
Bob Dopolina
I understand your tolerance stack consideration. It certainly would come into play based on the number we're tossing around.
There is also a lot of chatter now, esp about deep dish carbon, and where the actual flex is, how it affects tracking and power etc, and spoke tension should be part of that conversation.
Another thing to consider is what the properties of the spokes Zipp uses are and if perhaps they are drawn to specific spec for their very specific use: Zipp rims. Of this I am not knowing.
I think tis is becoming a sidebar for another thread.
Zipp uses standard Sapim CX-Ray straight pull spokes. There was a "wheel stiffness" article that got posted recently talking about the different ways a wheel can be 'stiff'. Specifically, the difference between spoke-borne lateral stiffness and rim-borne lateral stiffness. Like, a shallow box rim with high spoke count will be technically stiff because of the spokes, but it may still deform significantly at the actual loading point (while you won't measure much if any deflection opposite the loading point, say at the seatstay). Versus a low-spoke-count deep dish carbon wheel where the rim is extremely stiff but spokes aren't contributing much to overall lateral stiffness... so any loading at one point will deflect the rim much more opposite the loading point.