Wheel lacing

[euro3cycle]

Can you lace up a 16h hub to a 32h rim? I have a couple extra hubs and rims around, and was curious if I could lace up a 32h mavic rim to a dt swiss 16h hub. Obviously the 16h hub has half the spoke that the 32h rim has, so I think it can be done, but wanted to double check, thanks for the help. May be a stupid Q.

 

[DiabloScott]

Can you lace up a 16h hub to a 32h rim? I have a couple extra hubs and rims around, and was curious if I could lace up a 32h mavic rim to a dt swiss 16h hub. Obviously the 16h hub has half the spoke that the 32h rim has, so I think it can be done, but wanted to double check, thanks for the help. May be a stupid Q.

Nope - not very well anyway. Rims have spoke holes offset toward the side of the hub the spoke is going to; every other spoke hole will point at the same flange of the hub so if you skip every other hole you'll have the spokes going to the right flange coming from eyelets aimed at the left flange (or vice versa).

You could probably do it with some kind of paired spoke lacing but figuring out the correct spoke lengths and other concerns would be trial and guess, plus the rim wasn't intended for that and you'd have big gaps between the spokes.

16° hubs are always intended for use with specific rims as pre-built wheels... not real wise to dink with that anyway.

 

[euro3cycle]

that makes sense, your saying that the holes for the nipples/spokes in the rim are angled for the direction the spoke enters the rim. they are deep dish rims, mavic cxp30's to be exact with dt superlite hubs. i would be using the same dt aero spokes and then the mavic cxp30 rims. if that tells you anything, i race road, and came from mtb racing, I have laced many a mtb wheel, but never a road wheel. again, thanks for the help

Nope - not very well anyway. Rims have spoke holes offset toward the side of the hub the spoke is going to; every other spoke hole will point at the same flange of the hub so if you skip every other hole you'll have the spokes going to the right flange coming from eyelets aimed at the left flange (or vice versa).

You could probably do it with some kind of paired spoke lacing but figuring out the correct spoke lengths and other concerns would be trial and guess, plus the rim wasn't intended for that and you'd have big gaps between the spokes.

16° hubs are always intended for use with specific rims as pre-built wheels... not real wise to dink with that anyway.

 

[JohnO]

Definitely not. I have a set of Rolf Vector Pros, 14 spoke front, 16 rear. The spokes are closely paired where they attach to the rim, because to use that low a number of spokes, the torque on the nipples must be correspondingly higher. If the spokes aren't closely paired, the rim will get bent into a wavy form as the spokes get torqued down.

 

[alfeng]

that makes sense, your saying that the holes for the nipples/spokes in the rim are angled for the direction the spoke enters the rim. they are deep dish rims, mavic cxp30's to be exact with dt superlite hubs. i would be using the same dt aero spokes and then the mavic cxp30 rims. if that tells you anything, i race road, and came from mtb racing, I have laced many a mtb wheel, but never a road wheel. again, thanks for the help

ALEX makes a semi-aero rim which is supposedly robust enough to withstand the rigors of a 16-spoke wheel -- that is, one of the options is a 16h version of the rim:

http://alexrims.com/rims/r_da28.htm​

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DA28SIZE:700C 622X14 16/20/24/28/32H 480G​

26"x1.0 (650c) 571x14 16/20/24/28/32H 420GFINISH:Silver/Black w/CSWJOINT:Sleeved​

"... The DA28 can be built with a few as 16 or 20 spokes and still maintain it’s strength and overall wheel trueness. A top choice by many top quality brands."​

FWIW. The MAVIC CXP-30 MAY Be a robust enough rim (I had the forerunner CXP-14 variant which I reckoned were stiff enough for the type of lacing you are contemplating to the point where I was actively looking for a pair of CXP-30 rims to lace to my old normally-paired-16-spoke WH-7700 hubs!) ... certainly, the OTHER MAVIC road rims are not strong enough for a 16h lacing!

FWIW2. I ended up getting a pair of the 16h Alex rims, but have yet to relace the hubs, so I can't give you any feedback on the rims.

BTW. Another option is to have the hubs re-drilled to 32h ... this shouldn't be that difficult if you have worked with metal before ...

 

[euro3cycle]

The rims are 32 hole, the hubs are a rare variant from dt swiss. They are only drilled in an aerodynamic fashion for 16 hole. So I would be skipping holes in the rim, I think due to the fact that the rims are a deeper dish style rim, they would be strong enough to handle half the spokes. The spokes are definitely strong enough, I built the set of wheels they came off of, but I have never done this type before. The rims I built were 16 hole. So if you can visualize every other hole in the rim beiong skipped and the spokes being laced in a close fashion, it might work. Though, if you skip every other hole in the rim, then the lacing will not be as clost as the aero 16 hole rim they came off of. The more I think about it, the more confused I get. Damn, oh well, maybe I will try it since they are all extras anyway