The debates about how to lace a wheel, remind me of the "Big Endian" and "Little Endian" schism in Guliver's Travels, wherein simple personal preference is raised to the level of theology. I built my first wheels following the procedures set out in Jobst Brandt's The Bicycle Wheel, and have continued to do so because it works just fine. But Bob Lickton, who scoffs at Brandt, built me a very fine set on wheels with the rear wheel spoke heads on the "wrong" side of the flange according to Brandt. Lots of variations work fine as long as the spokes are correctly tensioned. Different strokes for different folks.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Houston, TX
HM & SS Sachs <sachs@erols.com> wrote: John Jorgensen wrote very thoughtfully, but I will all but the point on which I have a comment:
Drive side spoke pull direction is often a cause for much debate, I have a preference, drive side pull spoke with head out, but have built many either way with no noticeable change in performance. With and without opp. flange being a lacing mirror image.
I also try to build with the drive side pulling spokes head-out. The reason is that if the chain slips and scrapes the spokes, it scrapes the reaction spokes instead of the pulling spokes. Of course, breaking one of them is just as bad as breaking a pulling spoke, as far as I can tell, but it "feels" better to build this way. I think all of the other arguments, like whether the opposite flange should be mirror of the drive-side flange or the same, are just personal esthetic preferences that will make no measurable difference in straightness, strength, or durability. Nothing wrong with esthetics, of course.
If you disagree on this, and feel that there is a real difference, I'm closing out my stock of CD-rewinders that remove the residual torque from repeated playing, so they're for sale cheap. Just moving to the new DVD model... :-)
harvey sachs
mcLean va