Originally Posted by SethAZ

jma1st3r if you're talking torsional stiffness that has everything to do with the spoke count and spokes and more or less nothing to do with the rim, though you can't truly say nothing because the spokes that are under heavy load due to high torsion have to be able to resist the spokes trying to pull themselves through the rim.

When you talk about "tension and preload" I'm curious what you're talking about. I'm not aware of any preload that exists that is different than spoke tension, unless you're talking about bearing preload in the case of angular contact bearing preload, which is an issue with eg: Shimano hubs. Most hubs these days use radial contact bearings. So what exactly are you asking?

A higher spoke count is going to distribute the forces over more spokes, which is going to mean a smaller gap in the min/max spoke tension due to all forces involved, whether it be just bearing the weight of the rider + bike, hitting potholes or cracks (or stones), or torsional loads due to acceleration or brake with disc breaks. The periodic cycling of spoke tension between min and max values as the wheel rotates and the aperiodic change in spoke tension due to the other reasons is going to have an effect if the min tension is low enough that the spoke nipples can loosen over time. I think, based on just what I've read over the years combined with my limited first hand observations that spoke count is more important in building strong wheels for a clyde than rim width or rim stiffness. Not saying that's not important, I just believe personally that spoke count and what spokes are used are more important.