Originally Posted by
Homebrew01
I just built a front radial wheel, 50 mm carbon tubular, 18 spokes. For some reason (better bracing angle ?) I built it with the heads in/elbow out, but am now second guessing it. Looks like the nipples are angled a bit more than ideal in the spoke hole. Elbow in would give a little straighter angle for the nipple. I'm contemplating undoing each spoke 1 at a time and switching them. Is it just a theoretical advantage 1 way or the other ?
Since you've already built the wheel, leave it be. The spokes have bent a little extra at the elbow if you've tensioned the wheel properly, and re-lacing them head-out will straighten that bend out. Bend 'em back & forth enough will create fatigue.
You could start over with new spokes and lace 1/3 of the wheel head-in and 2/3 head-out. You could tell everyone that Sheldon Brown told you to do this at a seance.