Originally Posted by
mihlbach
Thats a pretty bold series of statements you are making.
You are incorrect in thinking that no "real" mechanic would claim this. My claims aren't merely based on my own experience with building and riding wheels. Other sources including many (indeed, the majority) of noteworthy wheelbuilders build radially laced wheels and find no problems with them. If radially laced front wheels (assuming no disk brake and properly built hub) are structurally more flawed than crossed spokes, please explain how and back it up with proof or data of some sort.
Nonetheless, you are right that aesthetics are a big factor for some people. However, it could be that the reason why many many front wheels are radially laced boils down to cost...they are easier and faster to build, and probably cheaper to manufacture.
Operator likes to whip out the "no real mechanic" thing from time to time. Occasionally he's right. In this case I think its unwarranted.
In the class on wheelbuilding at UBI (as well as in reading from the books by Jobst Brandt, Gerd Schraner, Barnetts and others) the general consensus was that Radial lacing is (surprise surprise) radially stiffer and therefore better able to handle loads across a diameter line on a wheel. Also they are a touch lighter than wheel with a higher cross count. As previously noted.
So no, its not just for looks.
tbrtbx:
so you've found ride quality to be affected by spoking pattern? what do you attribute that to? At a guess I think it would be the difference in radial rigidity between a direct vs. tangential (ie. radial versus any other kind of cross laced) mount spoking pattern.
Can you expand on what you mean by dead?