Mr. Mass wrote:
"Unfortunately, nobody bothered to tell them that the mechanical stiffness of a wheel is completely unrelated to the spoke tension.
Held back in life by the curse of rationality..."
This curse sometimes manifests in a need to explain complex systems with simple engineering principles that, while valid, may not provide a complete description of the system. Ironically, another sufferer of this curse, Jobst Brandt, asserts that whell strength is a direct function of spoke tension. But hey, what do I know? Maybe wheels with near-zero tension are plenty stiff, just not strong... whatever that means. All I do know is that there is a fairly narrow range of spoke tension within which a wheel functions properly.
Tom Dalton
Bethlehem, PA
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