I think he still around. he's for sure not pro-only shop. I went in there while the kids were eating lunch in the taco joint next door and notice the old fashion freewheel board I only seen when I was a lid working in a local shop in LA. I asked him about a 18 tooth cog for my Shimano and he nearly threw me out and noticed my shaved legs. he said you are the go fast type with spandex? How ya find my shop? He had a bunch of really funky laced wheels hanging on the old shop wall. he even had one laced heart shaped with rims welded together. I got him talking for a bit and was told he was selling his shop along with all his old stuff. he's in a little strip mall right off the beach in New Port?

I thought the main function of spokes was as load-bearing members. They function by carrying loads in tension. The pattern is arranged to give high stiffness (tensile and torsional stiffness). Towards those goals, any twisting will make the wheel "softer" and weaker.


To me, these are more art than engineering.

While there might be some subtle theoretical advantages to twisted spokes, in practice there must be so many uncontrolled variables as to defy analysis.