Christ, not another R-I invasion. Look dude, 36h radial is 100% fine for a front, front's aren't transmitting any torque like rears so they don't need the strength of crossed/nonradial spokes. I'm a ****** and my 20 spoke radial front has 2k on it with no issues

3x is the best pattern for the rear when you're learning. I like how they look and all, but the wheels in that pic look especially cool because of the angle it was taken at. From the side you don't really see the sets of 4 like you do in that pic, you just see normal wheel.

Spokulator is the best/easiest spoke length calculator (http://www.houseof3d.com/pete/applet...appwheel.html). Get your measurements and then screw with it a little to see how the different variables interact, it's kind of cool and if your thinking cap is on you will learn a little bit about what makes wheels work,