What The #@!$? Twisted Spoke Wheel

wle said:

seen on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220009777426&indexURL=7&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting

how would you know how long to make them?
cut and try?

what possible advantage is there, other than being heavier so you can
go faster
downhill?

Just a bit of bling. Usually found on custom mountain bikes of the 90s. They're
usually not a problem in use. Contrary to some of the worry here about dire
consequences if any part of the wheelbuilding formula is not followed, there's a
lot of ways of skinning this particular cat. I wouldn't recommend them for
loaded touring or cross racing under my well-larded ass, but why not for normal
cycling purposes.

Ron

wle said:

seen on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220009777426&indexURL=7&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting

how would you know how long to make them?
cut and try?

what possible advantage is there, other than being heavier so you can
go faster
downhill?

wle.

Dear WLE,

Here's a calculator for twisted lacing, sometimes called a chain-link
or snowflake pattern:

http://www.ozbizz.com/melton/kensbikes/snowflake.htm

Twisted lacing can make a batch of wrong-size spokes fit when nothing
else is available, or so some riders on long tours have claimed.

But mostly people just like the silly look.

As far as I know, there are no reports of such spokes breaking in the
middle, despite the weird bends. The unrelieved-stress theory often
mentioned on RBT would seem to predict a hideous rate of failure from
fatigue.

Here's a long thread about twisted lacing:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.bicycles.tech/browse_frm/thread/30b0892bd3ef37b8/89fa8f1ee1271d33?lnk=gst&q=snowflake+carl&rnum=1#89fa8f1ee1271d33
or http://tinyurl.com/pvrgz

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

wle said:

seen on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220009777426&indexURL=7&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting

how would you know how long to make them?
cut and try?

what possible advantage is there, other than being heavier so you can
go faster
downhill?

wle.

Dear WLE,

Here's a calculator for twisted lacing, sometimes called a chain-link
or snowflake pattern:

http://www.ozbizz.com/melton/kensbikes/snowflake.htm

Twisted lacing can make a batch of wrong-size spokes fit when nothing
else is available, or so some riders on long tours have claimed.

But mostly people just like the silly look.

As far as I know, there are no reports of such spokes breaking in the
middle, despite the weird bends. The unrelieved-stress theory often
mentioned on RBT would seem to predict a hideous rate of failure from
fatigue.

as would conventional crossing given the "unrelieved" bend where the
spokes touch!

Quoted message said:

Here's a long thread about twisted lacing:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.bicycles.tech/browse_frm/thread/30b0892bd3ef37b8/89fa8f1ee1271d33?lnk=gst&q=snowflake+carl&rnum=1#89fa8f1ee1271d33
or http://tinyurl.com/pvrgz

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

In article <[email hidden]>, wle
<[email hidden]> wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

how would you know how long to make them?
cut and try?

With an entwined lacing pattern you've the option of varying the number
of twists, so spokes of greater length can be accommodated by further
entwining them. E.g., if spokes of X length are must be entwined twice,
spokes of X+5mm should be twisted thrice (values are purely academic).

Quoted message said:

what possible advantage is there, other than being heavier so you can
go faster
downhill?

wle.

I laced up such a (front) wheel several years ago. It drew much
attention -- that being its *only* benefit, if it can be considered as
such. After several thousand KMs a spoke broke -- during riding the
spokes were prone to chronic creaking as they strained against their
intertwined counterparts. Following that I liberated the rim for a more
durable, conventional 3x build.

Why did I build it anyway? It was a rainy afternoon, there was a spare
rim in the closet, and a set of too long spokes in the spare parts bin.
A similar reason or the need for novelty should be the impetus to
proceed; from the perspective of durability and performance there is no
rationale for such a wheel.

Luke

wle said:

seen on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220009777426&indexURL=7&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting

how would you know how long to make them?
cut and try?

More like twist and try.

Quoted message said:

what possible advantage is there, other than being heavier so you can
go faster downhill?

To draw attention away from the sooper-seekrit stuff that makes the
bike killer fast (in the owner's mind)?

To use up a set of too-long spokes that had been sitting in the shelf
since the Truman administration?

To make the rider's strange attire seem less noteworthy by comparison?

To provide a tuned antenna system to augment the effectiveness of the
rider's AFDB?
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

carlfogel said:

As far as I know, there are no reports of such spokes breaking in the
middle, despite the weird bends. The unrelieved-stress theory often
mentioned on RBT would seem to predict a hideous rate of failure from
fatigue.

A possible reason for no reports of failure is that very few people use
them, and those who do probably don't ride many miles.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored
_`\(,_ | by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." --Ralph Waldo
(_)/ (_) | Emerson