I've never heard somebody complain about the inconvenience of buying two spoke lengths to build a rear wheel. LOL! Have you?
The idea of an Asymmetric rim is to balance spoke tension. The reason people are afraid of unbalanced spoke tension is that too much leads to cracked rims, rounded nipples and damaged hub flanges. Too little spoke tension on the non-drive side means spokes that self-loosen and break due to fatigue. If you've never had a rim eyelet crack and have never had a left side spoke loosen up in the first few miles of use, then that's really good on you. You are absolutely right that starting at the hub makes a lot of sense. Avoid a 130mm 11-speed cassette hub. Stock up on 135mm 7sp cassette hubs. Smart move. If you want to make the best of an unbalanced hub, though, an asym rim does get you closer to balanced spoke tension, which allows you some more margin to avoid going too tight or too loose. I'd have to draw you a free-body diagram to convince you that the off-center spokes won't cause the rim to twist in some weird way. The main point is that the compressive forces across the cross section of the rim are the dominant ones. If you were afraid about off center spokes bending the rim in an off center way, then you would be absolutely certain that your rim would taco anytime you turn. Turning is a LOT more un-balanced a force than having the spoke bed 4mm to the left. On Thursday, February 6, 2014 7:08:55 AM UTC-8, Montclair BobbyB wrote: > > Allow me to present an opposing opinion on asymmetrical rims... In my > opinion they attempt to solve a problem that isn't really a problem, and > they go about solving it the wrong way. To begin with, why is having a > dished rear wheel really such a problem, unless you hate having to buy 2 > spoke sizes to build your wheels? I hear people argue about wheel > strength, but who says you can't build a dished wheel that is strong? I've > never trashed a dished wheel merely because it's dished... I've built a > fair number of wheels, and I'm a big dude. Second, an asymm rim > concentrates the weight (and stress) on the side of the rim (and therefore > the side of the tire), not the center. I say it belongs in the center, > wouldn't you?. And if in the end you really hate the idea of having dish > in your rear wheel, I say start with HUB selection, not the rim. Think > about it; with asymm rims you're merely offsetting asymmetry with more > asymmetry... Why not just begin (and stick with) symmetry, period? > > I admit I like being able to buy one size of spokes for both sides, but > I'm struggling with the whole asymm thing... Somebody please help convince > me. > > Peace, > > Bobby "I admit my face is asymmetrical" Birmingham > > > > > > > On Wednesday, February 5, 2014 4:48:19 PM UTC-5, mike goldman wrote: >> >> yes, you can use spokes if its off by a mm or 2. >> >> i try to keep a differential of 2mm between rear spokes rounding down for >> the right side as to pull the rim over for dish >> ____________________________________________________________ >> How to Sleep Like a Rock >> Obey this one natural trick to fall asleep and stay asleep all night. >> http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3131/52f2b1f47e82331f46087st04duc >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
