Originally Posted by
dddd
Ahh, but wouldn't the thinner wire be much more elastic, requiring higher spoke count to achieve same wheel stiffness and side-loading limits?
They can get some stiffnes back by doing away with the J-bend, and I wonder if today's 1.5mm spokes are processed/worked to much higher tensile load capacity than the thicker ones? I recall that HED instructed me to use 150kg with the 1.5mm spokes (I encountered nipple-seating issues a bit short of that level of tension iir).
A guy in the late '70s made wheels with piano wire. They worked well and were quite light, but they needed bales in the hub because the wire was too thin to use with nipples. But tension is tension, and that's all a spoke needs to provide.
They are probably also not kind to fingers.