Originally Posted by
FBinNY
+1
More butted spokes will build a more durable wheel, than fewer plain gauge spokes. The irony is that using thicker spokes often increases breakage.
I'd agree on if you are talking about thicker
straight gauge spokes. But increasing the thickness of the spoke at the
bend of the spoke has huge benefits.
This article from Wheel Fanatyk does a very good job of explaining why.
Originally Posted by
FBinNY
That said, if you're having spoke breakage issues, it pays to step back and look at the big picture. Breakage is often caused by factors outside of the wheel itself, including tires too narrow for the rider or road conditions. Riding style is also a factor, and it's not rare for a lighter rider to have more wheel problems than a heavier one.
I agree with most of this. However, I don't agree that tire width and road conditions have much influence on spoke durability.
How the rider uses narrow tires and
how they ride them on the road has much more influence. A heavy rider that floats over bumps...your "gorilla that rides like a ballerina" idea...can ride very narrow tires on the roughest of roads without doing too much damage to spokes while the light rider that slams into potholes...the "ballerina that rides like a gorilla...could pop spokes like Orville Redenbacker.
Originally Posted by
Robert P
Is there a particular type of spoke and method of tensioning that give the best resistance to broken spokes?
Yes on the spokes. See the Wheel Fanatyk article above. The only spokes I use for all of my builds are triple butted spokes from either DT Swiss or Pillar. I've been using them since about 2000 to build touring, road and mountain bike wheels. The incidence of spoke breakage for me has decreased significantly.
There's an added benefit of using a "triple" butted spoke (or, rather, a spoke with a 2.2 to 2.3mm elbow). The hole at the hub is drilled to around 2.5mm. The threads on a 2.0mm spoke are rolled on which raises the threads and increases the diameter of the spoke to 2.3mm. The hole in the hub has to be big enough for the threads of a 2.0mm spoke to pass through.
The problem is that the 2.0mm spoke has 0.5mm of space where it can move around in the hub. Each time the spoke hits the bottom of the cycle on the wheel, the spoke is detensioned and allowed to move in the hub. That movement results in fatigue of the spoke over time.
Using a 2.2mm or 2.3mm spoke elbow leaves less room for play in the system and results in less fatigue on each cycle. The added cross-sectional area makes the spoke stronger so that less play, less fatigue and a stronger spoke result in less breakage.
Tensioning is more difficult to quantify. It's important but there are limits. Too loose and the spoke moves in the hub more and fatigues faster. Too tight and the spoke pulls through the aluminum rim. As long as you are adding tension gradually during a build...i.e. not tightening spoke 1 to full tightness and then moving to spoke 2, etc...and trying to maintain even tension at the end of the build, the tension shouldn't be that much of a factor. Or, rather, it's less of a factor than strong spokes.
I would suggest that while you are over at Wheel Fanatyk looking at that article, you investigate their splined spokes. The make building easier and are much less prone to rounding off if you actually need high tension.