Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

What would happen if I built a 3x wheel, but didnt make the spokes touch?

1K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  Bike Whisperer 
#1 ·
Whats the reason we lace them up over/under instead of having them not touch?
 
#3 ·
Nothing much. The spokes on the outside of the flange will have less tension than the spokes on the inside of the flange. The whole idea is to have the spokes under less tension increase in tension when pedaling or breaking and the spokes under more tension decrease in tension when pedaling or breaking. The tension changes when the spokes are laced so that the ones on the outside of the flange have more tension and the ones on the inside have less tension. There is a lot of disagreement about this since none of the wheels I have built have ever broken a spoke I tend to think I'm right. Lacing the spokes makes them effectively a bit shorter so you need to take this into consideration when building a wheel.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top