hueyhoolihan

i have a question...

i could be wrong here. but you say that you cross the spokes, but they don't touch.

i thought that on any crossing pattern 1x 2x 3x or 4x that the last spoke that is crossed, (in your case the only spoke that is crossed) always touches the crossing spoke.

the touching is avoided by lacing the crossing spoke on "wrong" side of the crossed spoke. maybe you don't want them to touch. i don't know. then again maybe it doesn't matter.

i know that if they don't touch the spokes may appear to be too long. i think the spoke calculators expect the crossing spoke to touch the crossed spoke.

huey

laura*

Correct. If a wheel is built with the outside of the flange spokes (ie heads in) passing to the "outside" at the "cross" (and the inside to the inside), then the spokes won't touch.

You might want this if the spokes would need to make too many sharp bends for a conventional crossing.

No, they generally don't.

(Mine does - it's 40 thousand spreadsheet cells and growing.)

DannoXYZ 

Cross as in viewing from the side, two spokes have an intersection that looks like an X. However, they do not need to be interlaced. That is, a heads-out spoke that comes from the inside of the flange, doesn't have to go above and outside of the crossed spoke. Similarly, a heads-in spoke that comes out from the outside of the flange, doesn't have to go below and inside the spokes it crosses. Interlacing is optional and there's continual debate on whether the touching part actually contributes additional strength. It used to be believed that tying and soldering this crossed joint adds strength. That has since been dispelled as myth.