Wheel lacing question

Adam Kadlubek said:

Greetings.

I am amidst building a recumbent bike for a little road riding.

Anyhow - I am using a 20" drive wheel with a disk brake, 36 holes. I
want to lace the drive side radially and brake side using X2 or X3
pattern.

Does this wheel have a chance to hold?

Why would you "want" to lace the drive side radially? The question here
shouldn't be "can I", but "should I"?

The answer to that question is no. Radial spoking offers little
torsional strength, and since drive-side spokes are under more tension,
crossing them will create a much stronger wheel.

Dan

Adam Kadlubek said:

Greetings.

I am amidst building a recumbent bike for a little road riding.

Anyhow - I am using a 20" drive wheel with a disk brake, 36 holes. I
want to lace the drive side radially and brake side using X2 or X3
pattern.

Does this wheel have a chance to hold?

Regards
--
Adam Kadlubek

Radially lacing the drive side will help even out the difference in
tensions between drive and non-drive especially if you lace with heads
in on the drive and have a larger flange dia. Generally it will only
even out tensions by a maximum of 100n over a 3x drive and non-drive
wheel. This will depend largly on flange diameter. A smaller flange
diameter will even out spoke tensions to a lesser degree. The
disadvantages are that the drive side will have to wind up a decent
amont before it can create enough torque to counter the drive forces.
This will decrease the fatigue life of the spoke causing premature
spoke failure. Also most hubs are not designed to take the stress of
radial lacing which can cause flange failure.
As for your final question, yes, your wheel does have a chance of
holding up but it is awful risky just to achieve that cool look or
slightly more even spoke tension.

Steve Sauter

Steve Sauter said:

Quoted message said:

I am amidst building a recumbent bike for a little road riding.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Anyhow - I am using a 20" drive wheel with a disk brake, 36
holes. I want to lace the drive side radially and brake side using
X2 or X3 pattern.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Does this wheel have a chance to hold?

Quoted message said:

Radially lacing the drive side will help even out the difference in
tensions between drive and non-drive especially if you lace with
heads in on the drive and have a larger flange dia. Generally it
will only even out tensions by a maximum of 100n over a 3x drive and
non-drive wheel. This will depend largely on flange diameter. A
smaller flange diameter will even out spoke tensions to a lesser
degree.

With a small diameter wheel, lateral spoke angles are greater and the
difference with spoking heads-in radially makes little difference.
The main problem with that method is that flange stresses are
significantly higher and can cause break-out. 36-spokes is a fairly
dense mesh of spokes anyway, so it doesn't require as high tension as
a 700c wheel.

Quoted message said:

The disadvantages are that the drive side will have to wind up a
decent amount before it can create enough torque to counter the
drive forces. This will decrease the fatigue life of the spoke
causing premature spoke failure. Also most hubs are not designed to
take the stress of radial lacing which can cause flange failure.

If there is any wind-up, the damage will appear as hub shaft failure,
not something to do with spokes. I don't know how large the hub
center diameter is, but for such spoking it should be large enough to
withstand all torque going to the left side... which will occur.

Quoted message said:

As for your final question, yes, your wheel does have a chance of
holding up but it is awful risky just to achieve that cool look or
slightly more even spoke tension.

Is this about appearance or function?

Jobst Brandt

On 10 Dec 2006 09:34:26 -0800, "Adam Kadlubek" <[email hidden]>

may have said:

Greetings.

I am amidst building a recumbent bike for a little road riding.

Anyhow - I am using a 20" drive wheel with a disk brake, 36 holes. I
want to lace the drive side radially and brake side using X2 or X3
pattern.

Does this wheel have a chance to hold?

You didn't say what kind of hub; with a typical aluminum-flange hub,
I'd call that a failure waiting to happen.

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Werehatrack said:

On 10 Dec 2006 09:34:26 -0800, "Adam Kadlubek" <[email hidden]>

may have said:

Greetings.

I am amidst building a recumbent bike for a little road riding.

Anyhow - I am using a 20" drive wheel with a disk brake, 36 holes. I
want to lace the drive side radially and brake side using X2 or X3
pattern.

Does this wheel have a chance to hold?

You didn't say what kind of hub; with a typical aluminum-flange hub,
I'd call that a failure waiting to happen.

If it is a typical *disk-brake* hub, it will probably be OK. These hubs
usually have a large central barrel, which will resist torsional twist
nicely. A 20" wheel with 36 spokes is hugely overbuilt for road riding
anyway- this is the same specification that BMX riders use for racing.

If it were my wheel, I would build it with 24 spokes, cross-2 on both
sides. Finding the appropriate rims and hubs becomes a problem, though.

Jeff

Adam Kadlubek said:

Greetings.

I am amidst building a recumbent bike for a little road riding.

Anyhow - I am using a 20" drive wheel with a disk brake, 36 holes. I
want to lace the drive side radially and brake side using X2 or X3
pattern.

Does this wheel have a chance to hold?

Regards
--
Adam Kadlubek

If the hub is a standard hub, you may twist the center section..NO
reasi=on the lace radially, anywhere really.

Thanks everybody for your answers.

Yes - I am vain, therefore I want to build such wheel just for its
style, but since I like my bikes to be maintenece free (read: I am a
lazy a**) then I think I'll stick to typical lacing 🙂

Regards
--
Adam Kadlubek