Originally Posted by
mloywhite
I have a 32 spoke Powertap rear hub, and can get a really good price on a 24 hole rim that I really like. The guy who would build it for me suggests using all 16 drive side spokes, and every other one on the non-drive side.
I wouldn't do that for a paying customer, but as a wheel for myself it's actually not that bad. You'd need to run your powertap hub through a good spoke calculator to see what the tensions would look like though - see what % of DS tension the NDS ends up at.
I've got a hub that would give 55% DS tension on the NDS for a traditional lace. Using only every 2nd NDS spoke would make for a very balanced wheel in that configuration with only a 10% mismatch.
YMMV though, as it's been a bit of a trend to move the NDS flange inboard in order to compensate for the dish, this might make the every 2nd approach overcompensate instead.
If your setup would give the more average distribution of roughly 2/3 of DS tension on NDS then you haven't really won anything.
Rim drilling might complicate things. If the rim has a pronounced offset drill you get a bit of a nasty bend trying to get a spoke aimed at the left flange to align properly with the right flange.
Another option is to leave every 4th hole empty on both sides, and lace the wheel in a crow's foot pattern of 3 spokes to the group. Then if powertap is sized roughly similar to other hubs you'd be able to use 2.0-1.8-2.0mm for DS spokes and 2.0-1.5-2.0mm NDS and get a decently even tensioned wheel.
All of this assuming you're light enough to be riding a 24H rim to begin with of course...