What is this spoke pattern called?
 

I saw this bike on FGG and thought the wheels looked funny.

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2005...nsHinrichs.htm

What is the story on that lacing pattern, and why would anyone want it?

i belive that is simply called, twisted spoke...it looks fancy, just like radial, i dunno if there are any actual benefits.

-jason

It looks good, but you're in big trouble if you break a spoke. Big trouble.

Ive heard them called honeycomb twisted spoke. But im sure there are a 1000 other names for it.

nothing is more annoying than when someone does a pattern like that and doesn't get the twisting really tight. it'll ****ing creak and pop all of the time. a dude i know had to ****ing oil the junction on his all of the time. really ugly, really dumb, total bull****.

it's called 'ugly'

you don't consider that a benefit? ;)

one of my wheels is laced radially. i prefer 2 or 3 cross. i'm old fashioned.

what?! i don't think so.
see i was thinking of getting a new wheel set done with twisties or radial. the only thing holding me back from twisties is the possibility of them creaking and popping. i cant handle that. i dont think they do anything special (to answer the forum question).

if you do your rear wheel radially, i will make sure that i am somewhere to put a broomstick into your wheels while you are riding.

There's some age-old claim that the increased spoke length and off-axis loading allows the wheel to better sustain impacts. Supposedly trials riders like them.

I've never heard of any evidence that can sustain or refute that claim.

ok i can get it right now what he said ^

its called "snowflake"

according to Sheldon eye catching but no practical advantage

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sa-so.html

whats up with hating on twisties here? really, i mean besides being some NOS/vintage purist geek.

It's pointless, ugly, and only makes things harder to deal with. The only real possible benefits are aesthetic.

Man, I would feel uneasy riding that bike.

and god knows this is the last place anyone wants to talk about mods that are strictly aesthetic...

Hey, my radially laced NJS wheels are TOTALLY better than a normal wheel.

that's the teddy shreds special.

or the dream catcher

or the never true.

I'd think that if you laced all NJS components radially, they still wouldn't be actually usable in a Japanese keirin race.... :rolleyes:

Back on topic - the rear wheel on my MTB is laced like that. I've never noticed any difference from other wheels. But it was built by a pretty good wrench - the wheels are smooth enough that you can feel the valve stem as they spin...

that **** ususally looks awful, but i think that bike is ****ing hot.

i've heard it makes the wheel stiffer like tying+soldering... maybe i'm wrong

tangential, but tying/soldering doesn't do crap to stiffen up modern wheels...purely aesthetic these days.

Tying and soldering keeps spokes in place upon breakage.

If anything, snowflake pattern is squishy. Definitely not stiffer.

Creakiness is annoying. I might try soldering all the twists together to stop it.

We call it "chickenwire" lacing. It was really big in the early to mid 90s MTBs. I built several like that back in the day, and noticed that --> if built right <-- it makes for a stiffer front wheel. I never noticed any difference in the rear. I still think it looks kinda cool on the right bikes. to each their own.

BTW, add about 1.2mm in spoke length for each twist of the spokes, and run a little more tension than you are used to. I never had any creaking or popping, but I only used this pattern on my mountainbikes so any noise would probably be more noticeable on the road.