there ain't enough body armor in the country for me to try that. -- Ken on the mtbr forum in reference to MUni ------------------------------------------------------------------------ daino149's Profile: unicyclist.com933Open ↗ View this thread: unicyclist.com30444Open ↗
Is there any other reason for doing what's done with the spokes in the above link other than it looks great (which it does)?
François in Amsterdam has his wheel laced like that too, see the photo almost halfway down in <www.xs4all.nl/~klaasbil/muniweekend03.htm>. He claims it provides more lateral strength although I can't see how. He had the wheel built for him by a LBS (Bikeplanet in Haarlem).
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict -- I have a feeling you might need two points of contact with the ground for such a thing to work? Or at least training wheels on the front and rear. - John Foss commenting on a picture of a one-wheeled vehicle he saw on RSU.
ok the second pattern is very cool, I had it on my freestyle- unicycle some time ago. But it is not very strong. After a while the rim was not straight anymore. And it is very hard to tighten the spokes to get a perfect wheelset again. So I would not recommend that. The second one is more useful. It is simply a 3X lacing style, but at the last crossing, you turn the spokes one time around the other. Add 2 mm to the length you get from a spoke length calculator and the spokes will fit with that method. This method should increase the strength of the wheel. I do not know if it really helps. Anyway it looks cool, too.
cu
Mo ----------------- Ruhrpott Unitrials
-- Moritz Hahn - Gapstyler ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Moritz Hahn's Profile: unicyclist.com83Open ↗ View this thread: unicyclist.com30444Open ↗
Is there any other reason for doing what's done with the spokes in the above link other than it looks great (which it does)?
My friend Jason has a MUni with twisted spokes. I did a double take when I first saw it ans asked what was up with the wheel. He said he bought the spokes too long and didn't want to bother returning them!
As for strength, in theory the wheel could go either way. When pulled tight, the twists in the spokes will shorten, then lengthen. This could add some springiness to the wheel (making it more robust in the long run), but the movement of the spokes could cause the to weaken at the twist and possibly break. In practice, the untensioning of the bottom spokes is a much bigger factor than tighhtening of the top ones. In any case, Jason's wheel creaks and groans when he rides, so the spokes are indeed moving.
