Originally Posted by
waterrockets
The problem with 18+9 is finding a 27h rim. I guess you're talking about using a 36h rim, and having spoke triples, similar to the Campy asymmetric wheels. This would leave half the NDS spoke holes empty on the rim. Hmm. Yeah, that should be good too.
Velocity will drill as many or as few holes as you want, if your LBS is a dealer they can get you a 27 hole rim.
I think a 32 hole wheel with an asymmetric rim will be stronger than a 2-1 lacing, but obviously 8 spokes and nipples heavier and limited to the 2 asymmetric rims available (that I know of). With the asymmetric rim you're getting 16 non drive side spokes somewhere around 80% of the drive side tension, which is pretty good. Compared to 8 spokes at what probably ends up close to or above 100% of the driveside spokes, I think the 32 spoke build is stronger in terms of load distribution on the spokes.
If I wanted a deep section rim and wanted to go weight weenie style then 16-8 sounds like the best choice, but I'm no weight weenie.