Subject: Re: Wheel components Posted by: Robert on December 27, 1999 at 23:36:50: In Reply to: Wheel components posted by John Marrocco on December 26, 1999 at 03:15:23:

Message: >I am building a wheelset with Campy 9-speed hubs and Sun ME14A rims. I want to use Wheelsmith 15 gauge > oval or 14/15DB spokes and aluminum nipples. I am going 28 front but unsure of whether 28 rear would be serviceable or if > I should go to 32 rear. Also I was going to do 2X in the front but unsure if I should go 2X or 3X in the rear. I am 170 lbs and not very hard on equipment. My goal is for a relatively lightweight, every day wheelset. Any > recommendations are appreciated. >Thanks very much. John I would suggest 32 spokes in the rear and using 14ga straight spokes on the drive side. For crossings, the front can be anything without much difference, but for the rear you should have at least one side 3-cross. You need 3 or 4 crosses on at least one side of the rear (except in really low spoke wheels) to handle the torque transfer well, the lower the number of crosses the more the spokes will move in the hubs under acceleration and can give the wheel a rubbery feeling under hard acceleration and/or hill climbs. The problem with 4-crosses is the spokes might sit on top of the head of a spoke it crosses, which would give a high stress point and cause spoke failure, that is why 3-cross is so popular in 36 and 32 spoke wheels. The last wheel I built for the rear of my road bike, which is a 32 spoke wheel, I tried using 2-crosses on the non-drive side and 3-crosses on the drive. My idea was to get the non-drive side shorter than the drive, so the tension difference would be lower and I wouldn't have my usual problem where the non-drive side would need adjustment every once in a while. So far it looks like my idea worked, the wheel has held true since I built it, over about 2000 miles, whereas before I would need to ture it about every thousand or so. P.S. I would stay away from alloy nipples. They don't save that much weight, and they cold weld to steel spokes so after a year or two the wheels can't be serviced (trued/spoke replaced) without cutting the spokes and/or needing a new nipple in the rim.