HI, with the help of this forum I decided to go with DTswiss 240 RR465 DT comp spokes (32) and a 3 cross in the rear BUT I am undecided on the front. Colorado cycle said I could get away with 2 cross in the front .
With a 32 hole wheel going with 3 cross means using a little longer spokes = weight. I'm thinking of going with the 3 cross in the front also or is this a over kill ( I weigh 175 + live in New England )..
Wheels use for me will be riding a couple weekdays 1 long ride on weekend and doing a few centuries. Hope to put 5,000 -6/7000 miles a year

I weigh around 185 and have ridden both radial front wheels with 20 spokes and 3 cross with 32 spokes. I have also ridden rear with radial on the non drive side and 2 cross on the drive side as well as 32 spoke 3 cross rear wheels. I have never had a problem with any of them. IMO, it is more the quality of what you put into the wheel and the build quality that really affects it as long as you aren't planning on going to a very low spoke count or being extremely rough on them, but YMMV. I have always been lucky and not had any problems with wheels except when a car hit one and it went out of true enough that it was rubbing on the chainstay.

DT Swiss 240 front hub? Lace it radially to a DT Swiss RR 415 rim. 28 holes.

I just built 24 radial spoked wheels. They came out fine see my thread pics of wheel build.

I don't think the DT Swiss RR465/RR415 come with less than 28 holes. But yeah, a 24-spoke front should be more than sufficient for a 175 lb rider.

And any cross on a front wheel with rim brakes is overkill.

I just go with what a pro wheel builder says. I have no information that could trump real-life experience of building hundreds or thousands of wheels. GL

If you've got the same number of spokes on the front and rear, then one wheel is overbuilt or the other is underbuilt. In your case, I agree with the 28H radial front suggested by others. If it fails it'll be your fault, not the components'.

I would go with cross-3 on the 32 spoke front wheel and not cross-2. With cross-2 using DT Competition spokes, the crossing point will still be on the thick part of the spokes which will give them quite a bend. But I use a wheel like that and I never had a problem with it.

I personally would go with Dura-Ace hubs over DT 240s even though they weigh a little more.

The weight savings between 2x and 3x will be tiny... about 5g per wheel. I would personally just do 3x to make it match the rear aesthetically.

If you are going to match it, I would tend to agree with this, even though I stand by what I said above. It would probably look better to keep them the same, but I probably wouldn't have laced the rear that way instead of having changing the front to match.

I agree that there's nothing wrong with your way either. At your (or the OP's) weight, almost any lacing pattern on that rim with 32 spokes will hold up just fine.

+1

Also, don't worry about the gram savings of "slightly shorter spokes" unless you're really chasing grams. 24 Radial/32 3x should be fine for you.

Just passing on what I've read...I understand that 32 spokes 3x using 14/17 spokes gives the most comfortable ride. This may or may not be a consideration for you. I have no idea what that does to lateral stiffness, though.