I'm building up a new set of wheels for my fixie, with 36 spokes. I'm experienced at building and have no concerns about building a good strong wheel. My gut tells me to lace in either a 3 or 4 cross in the rear, with my high flange hubs. I'm concerned about the torque associated with the forward AND backward wind from a fixed cog. I'll be using 14g straight gauge spokes.

does anyone have experience with lacing in 2x on a rear wheel? Is my gut feeling right, or can I get away with this?

TIA

Goog

My default is 3 cross- I find that with a 4 cross the angle is so great, that a spoke's elbow covers other spoke heads. I've always thought it to be a PITA to have to detension a spoke to get the broken one out. That being said, you can run 2 cross without incident, but for the negligible amount of weight you save, why risk it?

I'd go radial in the back.

I ride a 2X 32h wheel and I haven't died yet.

I just built one up for Mumonkan as well.

Wasn't the decision to go with 2x based on your spoke inventory though?

I would go with 3x. Why are you using straight gauge spokes? In my opinion, it's always worth a few extra bucks for swaged spokes.

I also ride 2x 32h wheelset without problem. I'm not very heavy but do ride it on rough roads.

just curious how the cross pattern affects weight when using the same number of spokes?

Spoke length. Longer spokes needed to create a greater cross pattern.

Considering I had to order the spokes needed to build his wheels laced 2X as he ordered them, no.

+1

You're going to bother building custom wheels and use crap spokes?

CX-Rays.

100% overkill.

300% overpriced.

Guess my memory isn't what it once was. Carry on.

i just switched from 48h 4x (maybe even 5x, i cant even pay attention with that many spokes) wheels to the ones scrod mentioned, 32h 2x

the latter feel stronger and stiffer, even when they weigh less than half of the former

Thanks for the input, everyone. The wheels mentioned above would definitely feel stiffer, as the shorter spokes dont' stretch as much. At least that has been my experience. As to the issue of swaged spokes vs. straight gauge, that's just me being an old guy. I hardly would call DT Swiss or Wheelsmith spokes "Crap Spokes." I weight 250# and experience has told me I have fewer broken spokes when I use 14g straight spokes.

Goog

Your instincts are wrong. Weight weenieism is not the reason for butted spokes. At your weight, your wheel will hold its true better with butted spokes, and the wheel will last longer without spoke breakage. Use butted spokes.

I ride 2x 20 spoke front and 2x 24 spoke rear (yet to die) , and 3x 32

Congrats.

ftfy.

I know. A butted spoke is more elastic and has it's strength at the ends, where it needs it. I built up a touring wheel (36h/3x) with them a while back and it had more flex than a straight gauge wheel. Again, maybe I'm just being an old guy here. Back in the day, when I worked as a wrench, I would never have built a straight 15g wheel for someone my size, because it wouldn't have been stiff enough.

Goog