Originally Posted by
aaronmichael
Thanks to everyone for the additional information. I definitely have some reading to do on the issue. I reached out to DT Swiss and promptly receieved a response. Once again, these wheels will be equipped with 28mm tires which should in theory take some stress off the whole system.
"You’ve got it bang on for the front wheel, that is a great setup. The rear however is a little different, the Alpine III spokes are 2.34mm at the elbow of the spoke and they are designed to be used with our 350 Hybrid hubs that have thicker spoke flanges than standard hubs. We do not recommend using this spoke in a standard 350 hub. I would just go with the competition spokes in the rear, they are still a really strong spoke and paired with the RR511 I think it will be plenty strong even for a 250lb rider."
I was surprised he did not recommend the Alpine III. I'm curious if he is worried about the integrity of the hub flange with a 2.34mm spoke or if he's more concerned with them not laying relatively flat against the flange once it's laced. "Spoke path" is something I've never really delved into but it sounds like it's worth it now to do some research. Per their recommendation, I will also be using their DT branded PHR washers under the head of the nipples. The DT guy also recommended that I use their ProHead/ProLock nipples.
I’ve used the Alpine III on a number of different brands of hubs without issues. Brands I’ve used are Phil Wood, White Industries Mi6, WI T1, WI H3, Shimano XT and XTR, GT (made by Hadley), as well as some other’s I’ve forgotten. The only one that I had a problem with was a Ringle’ Hubabubba. I drilled that hub out slightly to make them fit.
If they won’t fit in DT Swiss hubs, I’d look for another hub. The advantages of the heavier head far outweigh any advantage that the hub might give to the wheel. The strength of the wheel comes from the spokes and not much else. Read the Wheel Fanatyk article. It explains very nicely why the triple butted spokes should be used.