radial lacing??

[HipHopapotomus]

so i've seen a lot of trials bikes with radially laced wheels, my own included: with the whole front and the non-drive side of the rear all radial.

from my road/track experience i've always been told that radial lacing is a fairly weak pattern and should be reserved for the front wheel, if at all (since the front wheel of a road bike doesn't see much torque/force).

why does it then show up in trials riding, where we obviously put extensive forces on our wheels? my best guess is that in trials there is not a lot of rotational torque from the drivetrain, you are mostly hopping up and down, and so the greatest forces are being exerted in a perpendicular direction straight from rim to hub? whereas on the road or track, the force is more angled as you are mashing down on the pedals and putting a twisting torque on your wheel? this is just an educated guess, however. anyone know more?

[spartan1]

A radial laced wheel is stiff then other lacings but they then not to like spinning and it puts a lot of pressure on the hub because there is less material to hold the spoke.
As for rotational forces from the drive train....i dun really know.
Though there are lots of road riders to radial lace their rear wheels and its fine for them and they rip on the pedals for climbes. And because the drive side is radial laced you get the advantages from both lacings. This is because the pressure from pedal kicks is transfered to the rim though the whole hub not just the drive side because the freewheel moves the hub itself as one piece.
Hope this sorta helps,
Spartan

[Unissamog]

It goes along with drilled rims. Radial is definitely weaker, but since the spokes are shorter you save weight. A drilled Rim is weaker, but lighter.

[emulous]

i rode a radial laced echo front wheel with a hs33 brake for abut a year, and it never was a problem. wheel never got croocked, although i weigh almost 200 pounds. spokes broke intermittent. but this also happens to me with a tangent laced wheel.
cheers

[Juhan]

When a friend of mine started trials the first thing he bought was a new wheelset. That was about 4 years or more ago, a shimano silent clutch and a dx32 for the rear and a specialized hub with a dm24 radially laced for the front. He rode trials for a year on that front wheel(beginner trials, but still). Then bought a mod. The rear wheel went for sale, the front wheel went on the street/dj bike. He rode that for a year. Then he gave the front wheel to his younger brother who has done dirtjumps for 2 or so years on it now. The wheel is still as true as the day it was laced, no flat spots, and it spins forever.

I'm not saying radial lacing is good or strong, but that it can be strong as hell.

[JohnnyO]

My mod front wheel is radial laces with a single wall tryall rim and tryall hub. I bought it 2nd hand with the bike. Frame has since died but front wheel is still going strong. I guess it depends on riding style- I don't do a whole lot of front wheel moves and I'm certainly not a basher. Also I run maggies, it'd probably be a different story if I had a disc.

[muddyfox]

I always lace my front wheels radial on the non disc side...Never had any probs.

[jamesb]

If you are running a rim brake on the front, radial lacing is no problem at all, all the euros do it with no issues. On the back they all have 3x lacing as far as I know. The force I see them put on the drivetrain is incredible so they need the rotational stiffness.