Originally Posted by
Random462
32 spokes. It doesn’t seem to be so much of an angle/nipple problem as the latter spokes have to be bent in order to be installed around the earlier ones. It may just be my inexperience?
It's going to depend on how the holes are drilled in the rim. When I've built small wheels, the spoke can end up kinked a little bit just above the spoke nipple. It looks a bit weird but the wheel held together fine.
The shortest spokes I ever used were on a 17" rim (Moulton size) with a Campy high-flange hub. I went with 1X lacing and it worked fine.
With 32 spokes, 16" rim, and a Rohloff hub that wheel is going to redefine "bombproof". I would build it 1X with all the bends on the inside of the flange. Putting the bends on the outside will kink the spoke around a little too much for my taste.
If you're feeling lucky you could lace it radial. I know, I know... people are going to say that it's going to "wind up". Not on that wheel- the spokes are going to be so short that the wheel will be essentially rigid.