Originally Posted by
Trakhak
.....One pattern I never had the nerve to try was one that a young engineering student I used to ride with theorized would work fine: a non-radial build with no crosses, with all of the leading spokes on one flange and all of the trailing spokes on the other. Tough on the middle of the hub, if nothing else.
There is (was?) a guy in San Diego that built odd wheels for fancy showpiece bikes. He did one of those, and
AFAIK it held up fine.
I never built one, the cclosest being rear wheel for a sprinter who swore he could feel wheel windup and wanted some magic.
So, I built a pattern of two spokes left, then one right, repeated on both flanges. He was thrilled and swore it was the first adequately stiff wheel he ever had. I always chalked it up to placebo effect, but was smart enough to keep that to myself.
Anyway, despite the protestations of John Allen and other experts, plenty of us built radial rears, which defied them by holding up fine. The front wheel on ny track bike is radial (to prove a point) on an extremely light vintage (in 1969) hub by a maker with my initials. Still fine.
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For anyone with the patience here's one of my favorite wheel stories from BITD.
Within our small circle of serious builders was Marty Mogalin. To set the stage, Marty was one of those Damon Runyon characters who inhabited Greenwich Village back then. A bigger than life Irishman, that could have been in the movies. Part overgrown leprechaun, part conman, all pure Irish charm. Marty could pick someone's pocket, leave, come back 10 minutes making a show of trying to find the owner of a wallet, and be all "no you dont have to" as he accepted the reward.
OK, someone commissioned him to build a pair of wheels, insisting on providing the spokes (something we all hated). Never one to turn down a buck Marty takes the job anyway. I come into the story as Marty is hanging out waiting for his client.
So, the wheels had "half twist" spoking. Meaning they twist a half turn at the cross and continue to thd rim. Ie. a pulling spoke would become a pushing spoke at the rim.
Me, "what gives?"
Marty winking, "I hate #$&%$s who insist on giving me the parts, and anyway they were way too long".
I understood immediately, Marty needed the cash and didn't want to wait. I watch him deliver them with a couple of tons of Blarney, his client left happy.
I saw them still in use over a year later.
The moral --- it's all BS to an extent, and ANY pattern is workable if executed well. That said, the plain vanilla cross spoked wheel is unbeaten for proven reliability.