Originally Posted by cooker

Let's say God has my left arm and is pulling me up to Heaven, and the Devil has my right foot and is pulling me down to Hell. They're evenly balanced and I am stuck in the middle. Then somebody hands me the weight of my sins, and that makes me heavier. That should help the Devil pull me down, but being lazy, he relaxes a bit, and doesn't pull as hard, and I don't move. God's workload doesn't change. Would you say the Devil is now supporting the weight of my sins by not pulling down as hard? After all, God didn't have to pull any harder when that weight was added. It was the Devil who made the adjustment.

That's what Brandt is saying about the bottom spokes. They are supporting the weight of the rider by not pulling down as hard as before. The upper spokes don't have to increase their tension (more than a trivial amount) to accomodate the load.

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