Originally Posted by
79pmooney
Spoke strength in tension is not really a factor in a wheel. Yes, butted spokes are weaker in pure tension. But spokes rarely fail in tension and when they do, it is usually from defects or damage. Spokes fail far more often from fatigue and the "neck" at the hub flange and less often through the threads (usually from poor alignment with the rim nipple seat). Butted spokes absorb road shock and simply stretch, sparing those high stress locations from the biggest loads. (Easier on both rims - less likely to crack at the spoke holes and hub flanges also.)
This is what I was thinking, too. That's why I asked about the nature of the testing and test data.
Fatigue testing is not so difficult to do once you understand the real world application and construct the test to simulate that, even if it is cyclic (pun) tensile loading. Fatigue testing is done all the time.