More spoke advice

term1te

I’m planning to build up some nice fast wheels for the summer, probably Swiss DT 240 hubs with Halo mercury rims. Ideally I’d like DT aerolite spokes, but the price is beginning to rack up now. How much of an advantage would there be in the aerolites over the much cheaper DT revolution spokes which are only slightly heavier but not aero, or the aerospeed spokes which would be 77g heavier (for 64) but supposedly more aero than the revolutions? Or in reality would the performance difference be negligible?

Thanks

Monty Dog

I'd stick with the Aerolites on the front wheel in a radial pattern and use conventional double-butted spokes on the rear in 3x. I wouldn't recommend DT Revs for anything but a weight-weenie build on the rear non-drive side only. I only weigh 65kg and found it tricky to keep good tension with DT Revs on the rear and replaced them with DB spokes - the wheels have remained true ever since.

JonEdwards

Do they have to be DT?

Not used them, but I seem to recall Sapim CX-rays being recomended as lighter and less elastic than the Revs.

rake

JonEdwards wrote:

Do they have to be DT?

Not used them, but I seem to recall Sapim CX-rays being recomended as lighter and less elastic than the Revs.

he said the price was racking up. cx-rays are areound £2.50 each. thatl add another £160.

term1te

Thanks for the replies. I was planning to go for radial on the front with 3x on the rear so am glad to hear someone else recommending that. Apart from saving a tad on weight with the aerolites, would the average rider gain a noticable advantage from aero spokes?

rake

have you thought about cross 1 on the front. it spreads the load to other spokes unlike radial.

Monty Dog

In terms of aero-ness of aero-spoked radial front wheel - also depends on the rim profile. I built a Velocity Vee rim with 24 DT aero spokes in a radial pattern and it was perceptably very fast - the Halo is a vee rim so should be ideal and plenty strong enough to take a radial pattern too.