Stephen Barner wrote:
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> What I meant by my misspelled reference to empirical evidence was, has anyone actually measured the deflection of an axle under the stresses applied by riding with horizontal vs. vertical dropouts? Or, is this just something that seems to make sense to someone with an engineering degree, then promoted as fact? The biking press in the '70s was full of articles like this written about wheel lacing patterns, frame details and any number of other subjects; many of them by our friend Jobst. It all made sense and made one look studious and cool when they could spout these "facts" in the isles of the bike shop, but was there any real fact involved? Any true testing? I think the vocabulary far exceeded the science.
The point of Jobst Brandt's book on wheel building was that he actually tested the wheels, tested tie and soldered wheels, etc. in a lab and listed the findings along with the test procedures in the book. They weren't "facts"; they were FACT. The book put to rest a lot of urban legends on building wheels.
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, CA
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