Originally Posted by
pressed001
Hey gents, quick question regarding this topic:
I have DA 7700 32 hole hubset and have just purchased some 32 hole H+son rims. I weigh only 150 and although I want the wheels to be robust, 32 hole is overkill. For example: I have built a 24 spoke super-light wheelset for my cross country mtb and have never had an issue.
Question: it sounds simple to build up a 1/2 laced rear wheel. I lace 2 cross all 16 DS spokes and then just 8 either radial or 1 cross for NDS. But, would that work for a 32 hole rim? I understand that some of the holes would be left open. Are there issues there that would make this a no-go?
Building it with 32 spokes would also be zero problem but I think the 24 would hold up just fine for me and would look better, minus the empty spokes holes.
As others have said... I wouldn't skip holes on the rims. If you really want to do 24, buy new rims and re-use the hubs. That's essentially what I did with some old Ultegra hubs. 32h hubs, found a good deal on some Kinlin rims, but they were only 24h. Laced the rear with 8 spokes NDS (1x), and 16 spokes DS (3x). the front I laced radially skipping every 4th hole on the hub. I'm just over 200lbs, they work perfectly and are currently my most used, and second favorite wheel set. My favorites are factory built HEDs that I save for weekends and special rides. One thing to note if you do decide to do any radial lacing is that some Shimano hubs don't have a thick enough flange to support the load and may crack. It takes some digging, but you can find that information on si.shimano.com in some of the old docs.