Originally Posted by Tunnelrat81

I prefer to lace with the trailing spokes heads in (a la Roger Musson & others) and I've found that it's pretty simple to get this done right. My key (first) spoke when lacing will be on the NDS, and it will be a leading spoke. I simple line up the logo, find the spoke hole in the NDS flange closest to the label, and count backward the number of holes based on the number of crosses I'm lacing. On a 3x laced wheel, I count backward 3 holes and that's where my key spoke goes. I then don't have to really keep track of it until I've dropped all the spokes for that pass into the hub (every other flange hole on the NDS). Then I go back, quickly re-count to verify my key spoke and pull it up to the rim just behind the valve hole to install my first nipple and commence lacing. Done and done. If the drilling alignment happens to be opposite (meaning that your first NDS spoke has to go to the second rim hole from the valve), or if the label on the hub doesn't line up perfectly with the spoke hole on that flange, tending to favor one additional spoke hole if necessary seems to keep my labels lined up well.

If you're lacing with the trailing spokes heads out (a la Sheldon Brown & others) You would use generally the same approach, but count forward to the 3rd spoke hole in the flange for the key spoke, drop the rest of your spokes in place and begin lacing by taking that spoke and inserting it into the first rim hole in front of the valve hole.

Hope this helps. It's really not that hard once you do it once or twice, but the leading/trailing thing can throw you off until you have more experience with it. The important thing to remember is that if you want the trailing (pulling) spokes to be heads in, you count backward from the label and lace behind the valve hole, and if you want the trailing spokes to be heads out, you count forward and lace that spoke in front of the valve hole. This can be confusing, but because you always lace the heads out spokes first, you need to toggle their direction accordingly when deciding how you want the trailing spokes to be oriented in the completed wheel.

-Jeremy