Originally Posted by Metaluna

I'm about to build a new front wheel for my Crosscheck w/ Avid BB7 front disc brake. I've never built a disc wheel before, so I'm wondering if there are any special gotchas or safety issues that I should be aware of (other than calculating the spoke lengths properly) before I start.

I have a Deore LX M585 36h Centerlock hub (w/ DT Swiss 6-bolt adapter), Sapim Race 2.0/1.8 spokes (sized for 3x lacing), and plan to reuse the 36h Velocity Dyad rim from my existing (non-disc) wheel.

First, the rim has not been particularly abused, has no cracks around the eyelets that I can see, and has about 2-3K miles on it. Is it safe to use this? I'd buy a new one but I'd rather not have the old rim sitting around taking up space.

Second, I'm trying to figure out the best procedure for lacing the wheel (I usually just go by Sheldon Brown's tutorial where you start with the key spoke being a trailing spoke, heads out). The idea I have is that a disc wheel can sort of be thought of as the mirror image of a dished rear drive wheel. In other words, the "drive side" is now on the left, and the pulling spokes are now the leading spokes (when looked at from the right side), since the forces are reversed when braking. So if I flipped the wheel over so that the disc side was facing me, I _think_ that means I could lace it the same way that I'd normally lace a rear non-disc wheel (i.e. starting with the key spoke being a trailing spoke when viewed from the disc side, head out so that the spoke runs up the inside of the flange). Does that sound reasonable or do I have something backwards?