eddy m

[QUOTE=waterrockets;7116037]1st off, this is a BRILLIANT lacing pattern. This is essentially what Fulcrum does with all their wheels (1/2 spoke NDS). It will be stronger than a traditionally laced 24h wheel, and I'd wager it's right up with a 28h wheel because of the benefits of having equal spoke tensions on both sides. I really really really like this lacing pattern.

There's a problem with a PowerTap though: the torque applied to the cassette transfers to the NDS flange first, since the "torque tube" runs between the freehub body and the hub. So the right flange is essentially a bushing that just keeps the DS of the axle radially centered in the hub, and allows it to twist inside it. Once the torque reaches the NDS side of the hub, the aluminum crossbars in the shell and the bonded CF windows do the torque transfer back to the DS side of the hub.

So, you need to make sure that your lacing pattern allows most of the torque to be applied on the NDS flange, which means you have to have a pretty tangential spoke angle on that side. Saris told me on the phone that an asymmetric lacing patterns can cause PowerTap hubs to "explode." So they don't even like the 1x DS and 2x NDS lacing patterns. I've built a 1x/3x wheel, and I know Ligero and several other builders do 1x/2x and 1x/2x patterns as well (always with more crossings on the NDS).

I think Saris would COMPLETELY poo-poo this idea, but if you laced the NDS 1x with 8 spokes, it should be able to apply full torque just fine. There are plenty of 16 spoke rear wheels out there that have only 8 spokes per side (Rolf even has some with 12 spokes). So, there's no question that 8 spokes can handle the torque.

Note also that you don't want thinner NDS spokes as you might do on a traditional wheel, since they will be at the same tension (or a tiny bit higher) as the DS spokes.

Still, something about it scares me with a PowerTap. It's just such an expensive hub. It would be cool if I could get a dead SL from PowerTap to try it out though