Originally Posted by timcupery
What you are saying is that only the "trailing" spokes (angled back from the hub flange toward the rim, not forward) are transmitting torque to the rim from the pedaling action. And you're right that normally you have, in a 32-spoke wheel, 8 trailing spokes on drive- and non-drive sides. However, nearly all of the torque is transmitted by drive-side spokes anyway. Typically ~5% of torque is handled by non-drive-side spokes, unless you have a very stiff hub flange in which case you could get 15%. So radial non-drive isn't actually hurting things here.
That's interesting, where did that 5% figure come from? If I chuck my bike up in a trainer, lock the rear brake, stand on a horizontal pedal, and measure tension changes vs. no pedal force, this is what I'll see?
Regardless, 8 spokes dealing with the torque is a non-issue. Spoke tension increases from pedaling force are very, very small.