Originally Posted by dddd

You are partially correct that, assuming a properly-built wheel in normal use, no spokes fully de-tension.
I did not suggest that it does, only that a wheel's load limit can be improved by increased tension up to a point, and only for the point of validating part of what Kontact had previously argued.


But my original and main point was that spoke thickness affects the stiffness of the wheel at all times, from the smallest loading up to and perhaps measurably beyond the point of when some spokes begin to see complete detensioning.
In fact every part of the wheel structure affects this stiffness, even the way that the spoke flanges are braced together by the center of the hubshell and the way that the ends of the spokes are held in a most rigid curcular array relative to each other and to the rest of the hubshell.
In short, any part of the wheel that sees a change in force/stress (such as the spoke tension does) in response to wheel loading affects the stiffness of the wheel in any direction as measured at the rim.