Nick Bain

most high end wheels are isopulse or similar. most Handbuilt wheels I've seen are all 32 spokes give or take 4.

What's the difference in ride characteristics if any?

Is isopulse better?

Is one stiffer?



Ive ridden shimano r550/mavic ksyrium elites & aksium race/ some cheaper alex rims all with different tires. I've never had the pleasure of riding an expensive traditional wheel like a built up Open pro or DT swiss with 28 or 32 spokes.

ericm979

Isopulse is a marketing term from Mavic. It means 2x on the drive side and radial on the NDS. There's nothing unique or special about that, plenty of other wheels have it. It does not require a reduced number of spokes. They claim better power transfer which is a good indication that they are blowing smoke up the reader's ass. Especially since radial spoking does not transfer power all so all power transfer is through the DS pulling spokes. Which is fine as no one makes enough torque to need more than a few spokes to transfer it.

More spokes makes a stiffer wheel. But it is not as aerodynamic. Stiffness with a reduced spoke count can be maintained by using a stiffer rim. To make a rim stiffer it can either have thicker walls or be larger in cross section. Either way the rim will be heavier if it's made from the same material. But that larger cross section can be used to make a more aerodynamic shape. Aerodynamics is more important than light weight for most cycling.

Traditional low profile rims laced with 28/32 spokes don't ride appreciably different from higher profile rims on fewer spokes. I have plenty of both kinds and they all ride pretty much the same. Only the deep carbon wheels feel different- they are a bit rougher riding.

hueyhoolihan

a lot of good info in that post!

edit: of course that's because i agree with all of it.

canam73

I mostly agree with your views. But Isopulse is actually radial DS and 2x NDS, as odd as that seems. Shimano actually does the same thing on some of their 20 spoke rear wheels.

bbattle

The "Traditional" wheel was 36 spokes in 3-cross pattern. Then, some marketing geniuses figured out they could claim lower wheel weights by having only 32 spokes. The race to the bottom was on, won by Citroën's Monospoke™ Wheelset

AEO

I don't know about you, but my hand built wheels use 20/24 spokes.
they are just barely at 1600g for the pair.

Nick Bain

would you say that 32 spokes transfer power better?

btw I managed to get mavic k elites with the cross lacing on both sides (2006 maybe).

Also I checked shimano, mavic, and zipp websites. Mavic and zipp are currently all about isopulse while shimano has all wheels both sides crossed. It is clear to me that the advantage of all their lacing systems is that the spokes are strait pull and under direct tension and it seems that this "marketing term" has been around a while and not going anywhere soon. So I guess the only difference I can say is that traditional spokes are under more lateral tension in the hub and when they are crossing eachother, weather or not that makes a difference or how it affects the ride is the great mystery that I intend to one day solve. I will now theorize that these lateral tensions would cause some sort of springyness to a "spokey" wheel that may diminish ride quality.

AEO

I haven't really seen a study which suggests there is a difference in power transfer due to wheel differences. Other than not using radial patterns at on the rear because of torque.

revchuck 

This isn't my experience. My usual wheels are OP or RR465 rims with Ultegra hubs, 32 spokes laced 3X. I recently bought a set of Kysrium Elites - the ones Performance has on sale - to see what lighter, lower spoke count wheels would be like. I put 105 miles on them and sold them. The additional road feedback was very noticeable, and was more than I wanted...and this was with 700x25 tires. They made my Look 585 ride rougher than my Specialized Allez, and I had Gatorskins on the Allez.

ericm979

Nick- "power transfer" is almost always BS.

There's plenty of people with information about spoking patterns. Sometimes they even agree. I suggest starting out with Jobst Brandt's "the bicycle wheel" book to understand how a wheel works. The stiffness studies by Damon Rinard are also interesting. https://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/

Clipped_in

Kryptonite blade spokes - kewl! They must have anodized over the green color. I wonder if cross winds grab them like they do Ksyrium bladed spokes

Nick Bain

thanks, it always amazes me all the information on that site that goes unseen cause there is so dang much of it.

at the end of the day it looks as though its all about strait pull vs J-bend.

canam73

At the end of the day it will be all about a good wheel build. Strait pull or j-bend will not guarantee success or failure.

Drew Eckhardt 

Negligible apart from any psychological effects.

More spokes are stiffer latterally but less are usually stiff enough.

The big thing more spokes get you is less wheel deformation when you put a slight bend in the rim or break a spoke. It's nice to open a brake release and finish your ride.