I have a very nice front wheel, that's never been ridden, and I noticed something strange about it: the trailing spokes are inside the flange on the right flange, but outside the flange on the left.

I know that the reasons for having trailing spokes typically on the inside all have to do with derailers and chains; and it really doesn't matter that much for a front wheel. But the inconsistency bothers me enough, that I'm probably going to unlace it and relace the left side to mirror the right. Is there any reason I shouldn't? I think that neither the hubs nor the rims have ever been used previously.

An antisymmetric lacing pattern such as yours is probably more common than a symmetrical one, because it's a more natural pattern for machine-building. (Drop in half of the spokes for each flange from the same direction, then twist, and you have trailing spokes from the inside of one flange and the outside of the other.) On a front wheel, I concur that it makes absolutely no difference, and I would not change it, lest I end up breaking spokes on flange holes which have been deformed a particular way.

Even on a rear hub, in which half the spokes apply torque while the other half merely support weight and stabilize the wheel, I also doubt it makes any difference which of the four possible configurations one uses, although I prefer "heads out" for my torque spokes on a new build.

It definitely does not matter, however, aesthetically I prefer symmetric lacing, and all the wheels I've built myself are laced that way.

It's a huge waste of time.

+1. While it may bother you when the bike is sitting still, when those wheels are moving, it won't matter one bit.
-Gene-

No reason you shouldn't. One great reason you should: it annoys you. I would do it. Whether machine built or not, the look of it is enough to throw off a discerning eye. Same as having the Campy script on the hub neck face the wrong way when viewed from the saddle.

I don't think it makes any difference regarding the durability of the wheel, but I prefer to put the "leading" spokes on the outside with the "trailing" (aka torque) spokes on the inside. If the chain gets shifted into the spokes, this will tend to keep the chain from forcing itself further down between the spokes and the cogs.

Isn't that what the dork disc is for?

Don't do it.

[pretentious voice]
I am much too good a mechanic to allow the rear derailleur to push the chain into the spokes.
[/pretentious voice]

Actually, I had a rear derailleur get wonky and start shifting weird. It was a Deore XT with about 12,000 miles on it. It still indexed OK, it just had a lot of free play in the pivots. One day, smack! bang! crunch! it put the chain in between the big cog and the spokes. Chewed up a couple spokes and made me replace the derailleur.

The OP is posting about a front wheel, no chains and der`s there I hope..

After reading the replys try leaving it for some time. If it still bothers you then relace. Sometimes I am picky, sometimes I am not. Sometimes the feeling of having made something almost perfect is great.

No biggie on the front wheel. On the rear wheel, sometimes, spectacular difference.

This.

For what he has given us (the bike manual), I volunteer to relace his front wheel. However, tensioning and truing is not something I can do.

Worrying about this is like worrying that the lacing on your shoes are not in mirror image. It really, really, really doesn't matter, and changing it gratuitously carries risk.

Building wheels symmetrically is quicker, so I prefer it, but if I have an asymmetrical wheel, I ride it.

I've found myself relacing my shoes when I realized I hadn't done it mirror-image, so . . . that's the sort of personality we're dealing with here.

Please explain why it's quicker. The explanation of how the wheel might have been built asymmetrically (drop both left- and right-flange trailing spokes in, nipple up and twist) seems like a time savings to me; I don't have very much wheelbuilding knowledge (though I've laced 3 recently), but I don't understand how building symmetrically would be quicker.

Hmm, perhaps it's not quicker. I built my first wheels without mentoring, so I put all the spokes in one flange and laced them to the wheel. Then lacing the other flange was tricky and slow. I suppose if you put all left facing spokes in, twist, put all right facing in, it's no slower than building symmetrically with flipping the wheel an extra two times.

I have a multitude of old factory built wheels, and in every case they are laced asymmetrically. So, I have to conclude that this is the easiest way to do it because a factory is going to do things the quickest and easiest way. The only wheels that are laced symmetrically are those that I built myself or had custom built by a professional wheelbuilder.

I think you're right. But for a human, the difference is extremely small.

I'm a little humiliated: I just checked all the wheels in my house (18), and about 35% of them are built asymmetrically. Most of those are of pair that has one wheel built asymmetrically, and the other symmetrically. I even found a couple pair with both wheels built having all trailing spokes outside the flanges. You go around looking for a little order, and find only chaos!

Now I'm going to become a “forest for the trees” guy, every time I see a bike, I won't pay attention to anything except how the wheels are laced!

I think you're more obsessive than I am. Now I hope I don't catch this and start noticing the symmetry of bike wheels.

I obsessively memorize things like license plate numbers. I don't know how or why I do this.

Just Re-lace them. I drives me nuts to have wheels laced "improperly" to the point where i lace all my wheels AND my wife's as well.

I'm actually starting a wheel lacing party when i get home, I have to do at least 5 sets.

Tom, I've been lacing one side at a time like that for thirty seven years now - never given it a thought. Is it much better to do it the second way? Now I'm going to have to try it!

Definitely better. Lace the head-out of the left side, then the head-out of the right side. Twist. Then the head-in of the left side, then the head-in of the right side. This way, you're not sticking spokes into the wheel. In my prime I could lace a wheel very quickly and never had to bend a spoke.

I learned this method from Lenny Preheim who died before his time. May he rest in peace.

there is a simple way to prevent this