Nice deal.....

I just scored a nice deal at a LBS with some mid eighties classic tubular rims. They were mostly Omega Strada Hardox Aero 32h but also a few Mavic Mach 2 CD 2. $13 each. That ain't bad. I know some stores charge $120 for those, witch again is sick, but still.

Lacing pattern.......Again

Yes, but listen up. There is a few things to know about radial and tangential lacing. We all, or most of us at least, know that radial is lateral stiffer and tangential torsional stiffer, so why shouldn't one run radial DS and tangential NDS.

In fact. Many do just that. Mavic with their Ksyriums (SSC and ES) and Shimano with their sets. It takes a stiffer hub shaft to make it work properly, but it is kind of a win win situation. You get a stiffer wheel where it counts. The torsional forces compared to the vertical ones aren't that big anyway.

In terms of stiffness. What do one win with going radial DS. The spokes gets nearly 20mm shorter and the angle from the rim toward the flange increases with 6.9%. The elasticity/spoke elongation is reduced by the same factor (6.9%)*. This is compared with 28h 3X. 2X vs 3X will give a difference in length of 10mm.(ERD=600 Flange=46 FD=19)

Does it matter. Wouldn't 3X both sides still be stronger?

Yes and no. Due to the increased lateral stiffness and improved angle, we can increase the tension NDS. This will improve the wheels capability to carry heavy loads without the NDS spokes loosing control of the rim.

So why don't I build my wheels radial DS? because not many hubs are designed to take that kind of load. But. What you'll very often see me do is use a thinner spoke NDS. this way, the spoke will stretch / warp more and you'll have a stronger wheel. Not stiffer, but stronger. An other way of doing more or less the same thing is Campa / Fulcrums 2:1 lacing.

So. A rear wheel with a whole bunch of radial spokes NDS is not at all neccesarily a strong wheel. Some very well know very expensive brands' NDS spoke tension can be meassured as low as 40N. And lower!. That's far below any tension-meter-conversion-table I have!

*Most of the elongation is at the swagged area and the difference in length is not necessarily in this area only. It could be less or in fact more.

High Flange or Low Flange

2X, 3X or rad. What gauge spokes to chose, how many......

It ain't easy, is it? Or is it really that hard?

Let's start with the flanges. Early days flanges were kept high to benefit from shorter spokes and less wind up, causing less wear to the spokes. Especially the elbows. Down side -> Makes a heavier hubs. If used tangential lasing, the spoke gets an unfortunate angle toward the rim.

So. What about a low flange. No problems there. But in these days of 9 speed and 10 speed hubs, the angle from DS spokes gets very low causing very little tension NDS witch again leads to a weak wheel unless very high tension DS.

And, here's my favourite. High (medium) flange DS with spokes crossed 1 less the what you usually would and low flange NDS. This will give a slightly better angle out from the flange and makes it possible to have some more tension NDS making the wheel stronger (read: carry more weight)

The wheel will also be stiffer, mostly because of the shorter spokes. We might be talking about 10mm which is quite noticeable. That would make it possible to go for a thinner spoke DS without loosing any lateral stiffness. Not that it really matters. If a wheel is strong enough, it's stiff enough.

Very often, the best upgrade would be to go for a thinner spoke NDS and that alone would cause the wheel to stand higher loads. When you experience a 'flimsy' wheel, I might measure to be stiff, but what you really feel is the spokes NDS going slack -> loosing control of the rim. Higher tension and thinner spokes NDS would help that matter