Norris Lockley, for whom I have enormous respect and great appreciation, wrote:
There was a spell in the UK the late 70 and up until the mid-80s when the Zeus 30H spoking was very fashionable..this was probably due to the Zeus stuff being supplied by Ron Kitching whose company had an enormous influence of the market, and what we racingmen rode. I think that the first time I saw the bunched 3-crossed spoke pattern was on one of Ron's ZEUS bikes at the Harrogate Show.
The pattern is known as "Spanish" over here for obvious reasons. The first time I tried to build up wheels in this style I used 36H ones...and of course I toiled in vain..then someone told me that "Spanish" worked on any multiple of 3...but still could not see why the 36H hub/rim combination should not work with six bunches of three on each side of the wheel. Of course it should.
That was the way the Spanish style was interpreted over here with bunches of three on each side not with the bunches on the drive side and then radial on the other.
I never did manage to work it all out, but was told that the wheels were extremely rigid..and of course they look good..Or do they...?
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Based on analyses done by Jim Papdopoulos, it seems extremely unlikely that there is a rider alive who could reliably tell the number of crosses (or other spoking patterns) in a wheel, just from the ride. When you think about it, the big variable is spoke length. What Jim showed is that the total variation from radial through 4x (in wheel deflection) is of the order of the variation in air pressure from one stroke or so of the pump.
Now, let's take the heresy one step further: if you build a 4x wheel, the spoke length is essentially the same whether the hub is high flange or small flange (look at a 4x wheel: the angle from wheel center to spoke hole to rim along the spoke is essentially 90 degrees, so the spoke length doesn't change). Do you really think that the wheel stiffness varies consequentially with flange height?
Ladies and gentlemen, I submit to you that these differences are fashion statements (as Norris seems to imply), although sometimes very charming and beautiful.
harvey "contrarian" sachs
mcLean va.