Good question, I just assumed they would re-use the spokes that are already on the wheels, which are j-bend. There seem to be a lot of conflicting posts about straight pull vs. j-bend.

I was looking at the gear upgrade, some people say it's not needed for the road and that it just adds more drag. I can def see the benefit for mountain biking where you want the fastest engagement you can get. I'm also reading that the lower engagement (larger teeth) might be better for people that put out a fair amount of power. I'll ride it on the 18t and see how it feels, and keep researching, but at least the option is there and it looks pretty easy to upgrade later.