Originally Posted by
FBinNY
First of all, you need at least 36 spokes to do 4x lacing. If you try to 4x on 32 or fewer holes the spokes would pass beyond the diameter on the hub, and leave the flange on a secant instead of a near tangent.
But if you have 36 spokes 4x is actually easier than 3x because it's a true tangent, and flange size has just about zero effect on spoke length. This was always nice as a builder because it required few spokes in inventory to cover a variety of hubs.
So, I suspect that the mechanic was speaking purely from ignorance, and projecting issues relating to something which was foreign to him.
Oh, it didn't even occur to me, to even dare think of doing cross-4 on anything less than 36-hole.
Thanks for clarifying that for all. Glad we won't mislead anyone.
(Although this thread is aged, I stumbled upon it today, as I am lacing a 36hole X4 for the first time, and was googling if it would be much different than X3 which I've always done (and X2 on rare occasions).
There were some myths persisting here, about radial versus cross lacing, and I found this very interesting, scientific, finite-element analysis using Catia (which they design and stress-test airplanes and rockets with).
http://www.williamscycling.com/asset...e%20Lacing.pdf
Long-story short, more with more crosses is better (their model used only 28 spokes, recommended as 3X, so one can conclude that 4X on a 36 hole has it's advantages).