Originally Posted by kommisar

I am thinking about building a rear wheel for a road bike. I realize that because of the dish, the NDS spoke tension will be significantly less than the DS tension. Obviously an OC drilled rim can reduce the differential but currently these rims are 3x as expensive as a traditional rim. I have also read that using lighter spokes on the NDS can make the wheel stronger. I can't figure out why this is true because the tension will necessarily be the same regardless of diameter. Does using lighter butted spokes on the NDS along with strait gauge on the DS really make a difference? Or is this another urban legend?