Originally Posted by waterrockets
Interesting. Thanks. I guess a shaft-bodied hub like a modern Ultegra would get a lot closer to 50%. Good data for a future build I'd like to do: radial drive side -- torque transmission through the hub will be important.
I'm not sure how high the torque transmission on the current ultegra hubs (and the like) are. I remember it being discussed awhile back but don't remember if there were any conclusive stats.
What's your reason for wanting to build a half-radial rear wheel with radial drive side? Other than its looking cool? I know that Shimano or Mavic builds some aftermarket wheel with this design, but I don't understand the reasons for the design.
One downside of greater torque transmission to the non-drive-side is that, when building with normal (3- or 4-cross) lacing pattern, it means that the leading spokes on the non-drive-side are going to lose a greater degree of their tension - which matters more on the non-drive-side since those spokes are lower tension already because of wheel dish. However, I still doubt the difference matters in any problematic way, because spoke tension might decrease 2.5% under heavy pedaling.