Of course, but it's extremely helpful in understanding what might make the LRLR patterns work. Even a 4mm variance (ie +-2mm) should be sufficient as spokes traditionally come in only 2mm increments, not to mention variations in spoke head placement, rim drilling (ie alternating offsets), etc.

In any case after some thought I decided this will indeed be a variation around the Rinard calculation...because the hub is just a slightly rotated version of that (with one spoke a little longer and the other a little shorter). So I'm ordering some spokes to try it out and if all goes well I'll probably get some nicer DB spokes to do both wheels (the LLRR pattern is fine for a perfect rim, but one of the advantages of a spoked wheel is to correct such imperfections).

Thanks again.

Which, is exactly how it is...

Interestingly, I just found my rear wheel being discussed on this sub-forum .. just so anyone who cares gets a more rounded picture, here is the project.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post11253436

The limited edition Velocity Spartacus wheel set that I used was brand new and laced 1x 24/36 as shown.. the original Velocity 36h flip flop rear hub is HERE.. I custom worked a NOS Sachs Two Speed Automatic hub to work with 700c wheels and automatically shift at approximately 14mph.. (as an aside, SRAM is reintroducing a similar hub at this year's Taipei Show )

There was nothing ground breaking in what I did.. the 1x 24/36 lacing was factory built with a Fixed/SS wheel in mind .. my rationale with using a coaster brake in a light, low spoke count wheel was that it would unlikely put any more stress (with me riding it), than a strong rider using it as a Fixed bike .... the bike was not built for touring, off road work, commuting on crap streets, or tricks.. it was built as a sport bike that is functional and pleasing to my eye.. I did an easy 40mi/wk on it all last season as a trainer .. after I built the rear wheel, I checked tension after a few outings... so far it has met my expectations and the bike is a pure pleasure to ride...

Bruce - Thought I had seen that bike before and it is good to hear that it is holding up... definitely a light duty machine.

My sporty coaster equipped bike has a 40/4 cross rear wheel but I have been known to take it off road and on trails and it sees little mercy... 3 years in and 1000's of bumpy fast miles later it has never had to see a spoke wrench.

If anyone is interested in why I'm trying this again when it didn't work the first time...thanks to the encouragement of Bruce and BCRider I'm guessing that I ended up with a twist because:
1. Not realizing the LRLR pattern really requires two slightly different effective sizes I didn't select a length between the two sizes...so the spoke length used was only close to one of the sizes (and over 2mm off on the other).
2. When it started twisting early in the build (when I was counting nipple turns) I realized that things don't really line up and abandoned the pattern for something that does line up (the LLRR pattern). Now I know that in order to produce the required effective spoke lengths, some nipples require more turns than others even if the rim itself were perfectly true.

I believe my build will require a little more skill/care due to the rims I'm using, but hopefully it will come out as nice as Bruce's various builds so I can compare the merits of the more exact LLRR pattern vs the rougher approximation of a theoretically better solution embodied by the LRLR pattern. And, yes, of course this is all in the name of experimentation, but the whole point of experimentation is to find better solutions (because conventional spoke patterns do have certain disadvantages...for example they require different hubs for light sport builds vs heavy duty builds).