Originally Posted by
cycle_maven
With large flanges and small wheels, it's nearly impossible to do that weave without really bending the spoke in ways it doesn't wanna... So I sometimes forgo the weave in that case.
One advantage of not weaving is that pinging the spoke rings more true for tensioning. But since I got a tension meter, I don't tension spokes by tone anymore.
Bending a spoke to get it into position is not a problem as long as you don't put a sharp kink in it. I've bent spokes nearly into a semi circle to get them into place when replacing broken ones, and they straighten right out with tension.