Wheel building - lateral cross

dabac

In Damon Rinard's test on lateral stiffness he finds that radially laced wheels are stiffer laced "elbows out", which considering the geometry is hardly surprising. Now, what about using the offset of the rim spoke holes "the wrong way"( left rim hole goes to right flange etc) to create a lateral cross? It'd provide about as much sideways displacement as "the elbows out" position so it should be an improvement. I'm a bit concerned though that the increased angle at the nipple rim might overstress the rim despite the eyelet though.

Anyone who has any thoughts/experiences of a setup like this?

daveornee

I did it for a rear wheel once. It increases the spoke support angle. It did make the wheel stiffer laterally.
It took some extra time for spoke alignment and lacing.
I sold it to a California rider who has over 100,000 miles on it. Spokes, Hub, and Rim are all the same as original. The rims are about ready to go as brake pad wearing on the sidewalls made them quite thin.
It is a Shimano DURA ACE 7 Speed Cassette UG 126 mm OLD wheel with Mavic MA-2 rims and DT 15/16 DB spokes built 3X.
I haven't seen the wheel for 7 years, but he tells me it never needed truing and never broke a spoke.
Now for my current thoughts:
1. It doesn't make sense for standard front wheels
2. I would go with a Offset Spoke Bed (OSB) rim today for the rear.

__________________
David Ornee, Western Springs, IL USA

will1988

www.knowledgehound.com has a brillient link to a wheel building website.