Originally Posted by
fooferdoggie
thats not what I am saying what I am saying is they cant be tensioned poorly or they will damage the rim. I have talked to several wheel smiths about this. thats why none f them recommend thicker spokes.
You are incorrect in your understanding of the tension needed. There should be no need for higher tension when using larger diameter spokes. If you look at the
Park TM-1 conversion chart, you can see that while the readings on the gauge are different, the actual value of the tension in kilogram force (a truly dumb unit of force) is in the same range for each different diameter of spoke. In other words, a 2.3mm spoke (13 gauge) has a reading of 27 but a force measurement of 92 kgf. A 2.0mm spoke has a reading of 23 but the same force measurement.
Many wheelbuilders don’t like building with heavier gauge spokes because it’s not what they have learned to build with. The article I linked to talks about this. There may be slight problems with using a 2.3mm spoke (butted or not) fitting into the hub but, in my experience, it’s not a common problem. I’ve built several dozen wheels over the past 20 years using 2.3mm spokes (butted) using many different hubs and I’ve only had one hub set that didn’t fit and it was easy to drill out.
To be clear, I wouldn’t use a 2.3mm straight gauge spoke but that is due to the butted spokes being stronger due to their elasticity.