Originally Posted by Kontact

Like this one? Why aren't the highest tensions on the top spokes?




It isn't "spin". Brandt was making a point about how a pretensioned structure, like a wheel or pre-stressed concrete, actually works. He does not say "the hub stands on its spokes", he said "the wheel stands on its spokes." And maybe that's why people get so confused about the point he is making about how the change in tension from weight never makes the hub dangle because all the spokes maintain positive tension, which means hub never has the opportunity to hang from anything. When the wheel is weighted, the structure acts identically to a solid wheel - it compresses on the bottom. And that has practical considerations when it comes to wheel design that the "hangin' from the spokes" perspective does not.