A shy person wrote:
> To clarify what I first posted: I have a disk brake, rear wheel, both sides laced symmetrically,
> 3x pattern. I built it by following Lennard Zinn's art of MTB maintenance. He explains that the
> "pulling" spokes come from the inside of the rear hub flange, spoke heads inward (heads down).
> The pulling spokes are the ones that increase tension, when the hub is twisted clockwise, by
> pedaling forces.
>
> Sheldon Brown says: Derailleur rear wheels should have their "trailing" spokes running up along
> the inside of the flange. (heads up). Trailing spokes become tighter when the rider pedals.
"Heads up" and "heads down" are meaniningless in discussing wheels. Wheels are round--there is no
"up" nor "down."
Spokes are instaled either "heads IN" or "heads OUT"
"Heads in" means the head is on the inside of the flange, the spoke runs along the outside.
"Heads out" means the thread is on the outside of the flange, and the spoke runs along the inside.
For the right rear spokes on derailer equipped bikes it is best to have the trailing (a.k.a.
"pulling") spokes installed heads out. Most good wheelbuilders observe this, but there is a minority
of good wheelbuilders who do it the opposite way. It really doesn't much matter, even on the right
rear spokes.
On the spokes that are not right rear, it doesn't matter at all.
It is generally easier to build wheels if the spokes on each flange are mirror images of one
another. Thus, I generally build rear wheels with all of the trailing spokes heads out.
There's more detail about this in my Wheelbuilding article,
http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html
> Do I understand what I've read and that either way is "correct".
Yep.
Sheldon "It Doesn't Much Matter" Brown +---------------------------------------------------+
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| --Albert Einstein |
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