Originally Posted by chriskmurray

For what it is worth, I think most of which way to lace depends on tradition much more than anything.

I have talked with engineers at wheel manufacturers who have actually done a fair amount of testing to see which way works out to be the most durable and they could never tell a difference either way in some very controlled tests.

With that being said, I tend to lace pulling spokes with the elbows out as well because I have convinced myself the theory you described above makes more of a difference than the engineers told me but I have laced both ways in the past and never had a single issue regardless of elbows in or out.