Originally Posted by
eddy m
I'm sure that an all leading all trailing wheel will build up, but that doesn't prove that it is stable.
Maybe
this does. Merlyn has been building wheels like this for years. They're more of a novelty than meeting a technical need, but as long as the barrel of the hub is strong enough to resist twisting, they hold up fine.
BTW- when the hub isn't strong enough, the center twists only enough to relax tension until it's within the barrel's strength range. The wheel does not suddenly collapse. Years ago I built a rear like this just to prove a point. The hub twisted slightly, then stabilized and the wheel lasted until it was destroyed in a crash.
There's no sense to these odd patterns, but they're not in any way unsafe.