are these actually strong?

[Lavrente]

How strong would these rims be? I love the idea but do not understand how they could be structurally sound, I foresee bending and warping or am I wrong and these are acutally strong?

 

[bicycleguy]

I have built a few wheel sets like that and have never had a problem with them, I have ridden my tallbike over 300 miles with snowflaked wheels and they have never failed me even when jumping curbs.

 

[Lavrente]

thanks thats a nice looking wheel!

 

[B607]

What would Jobst Brandt say? Gary

 

[karfer67]

i am gonna cry foul on this one. a spoke works by being a stressed member of the wheel. for that to work right the spoke needs to go (straight) from the hole in the hub, to the nipple in the rim. by doing this i am sure you are giving some of that up and the wheel would be flexible at least more so than a standard wheel. do i think it would fail no probably not. but is it as strong no way but it does look cool

 

[deorman]

I would think that it would also further complicate truing, since you're now pulling 2 spokes, sideways no less, every time you tighten 1. Worth it? I don't know, I've never done it.

 

[welderjosh]

I have a wheelset laced like this that I built over ten years ago. I have ridden it a LOT with little problems. It seemed like it took them a while longer to settle down after I built them, but I haven't touched them in years. You'd think they would be a pain to true, but they are actually easier. I think this is because the twist makes the effective hub diameter much larger. I am building new wheels though because I don't really like the look any longer.

 

[Pinche]

Dan's Competition used to do this for wheels built by them for a small fee. I remember I had it done with a set of Bullseye hubs and a set of Araya RB17 rims. I never had any problems with those wheels. This was probably about sixteen years ago though and they don't list up anything for custom built wheels now and you have to call.

 

[Bettleguise]

I remember all the messengers in New York and Boston doing that lace pattern a couple years back. Then it kinda disappeared. From what I heard the spoke holes on the rim or hub would break open because of the extra stress. I think it's another evolutionary dead end in bicycle tech. So if you have really nice lightweight rims, I wouldn't do that. I think it's a matter of them being too strong/stiff.