Originally Posted by cbrstar

He actually wrote:

"Tying and Soldering Reason and Purpose: long forgotten art, but in view of the high demands placed on today's wheels, more necessary than ever.".
"is increased enormously without influencing the tension of the spokes.It adds stability to the spokes' crossed structure,because the hub and the spokes should form an immovable unit and - even more importantly -they should remain so. The spokes no longer move against each other and the result is a solid unity of hub and spokes.In addition, should the wheel encounter any momentary radial stresses (bumps., the high stresses encountered by any one spoke is decreased thanks to the damping effects of its "co-soldered"neighbors. Tied and soldered spokes therefore tend to look after each other! Yet another positive aspect is the large flange effect. A small flange hub can almost be trans-formed into a large flange hub. The actual flange diameter is increased to that of a large flange hub.The wheel becomes a little harder, responds more directly when riding upright and is faster when accelerating - qualities highly appreciated by amateur and professional athletes alike. Tying and soldering also offers advantages for the front wheel, increasing durability and allowing it to be steered more directly when riding upright"

If you read the Ivan Gott story you will see that he tied and soldered his wheels for the 1997 Giro d'ltalia.