Nice to be Proven Right

This finite analysis by Williams Wheels confirms almost everything I said years ago in this post on the superiority of custom built wheels, and ESPECIALLY, the folly of Mavic's Isopulse system, where the drive side is radially laced (pg 1 is blank, scroll down). This analysis was for 28 spoke wheels, not 32. I don't do disk brakes, living in a dry climate, and probably never will, but the analysis is valid for both.

Here's the conclusion:

 In this analysis the 3x/3x wheel provided the best combination of strength, stiffness, power transfer and reliability. The 3x/3x wheel outperformed the two half radial wheels because allof the spokes share the power. In the half radial wheels, only the crossed spokes transfer power – the radial spokes only support rider weight. The 2x/2x wheel matched the 3x/3x wheel in stiffness and power transfer, but the 3x/3x wheel won on fatigue strength. 

This is because the spokes emerge from the hub at an angle nearly tangent to the hub flange. This is true with a 28 spoke wheel; however, as the number of spokes in the wheel increases or decreases, the number of spoke crossings would need to be adjusted to maintain the tangent condition. Accordingly, 2x lacing should be used with 20 spokes or less, 3x lacing should be used with 24 or 28 spokes, and 4x lacing should be used with 32 spokes or greater. So it is concluded that the best rear wheel is cross laced on both sides with number of crossing chosen to make the spokes as close to tangent to the hub flange as possible.

Interesting conclusion in that 2x is tangent to the hub flange at 24 spokes, and 3x at ~34 spokes. For 40 spokes, 4x is tangent, but 4x is past tangent for 32 & 36 spokes, as 3x spoking is for 28. For 32 spokes, 3x is just slightly under-tangent, and at 2x, 28 slightly more so. Keep in mind that every spoke creates more wind drag, no matter how thin or bladed, so spoke count itself is a trade-off.

None of this matters for rim brake front wheels that bear no torque. (disk brakes don't stop the wheel, they stop the hub, which has to transfer the torque to the wheel via the spokes) 

Tangent spokes pull on the wheel most directly, at a 90 degree angle, not off to one side or the other, just the way you'd stand to pull on a beam with a rope. They also pull against each other at the hub, pulling in EXACTLY opposite directions, so there is no net stress on the hub, unlike radial spoking where the spokes are always trying to rip the spokes out of their holes. The spoking pattern with the lowest range of tension is, all other things being equal, the best, as it puts the least stress on the spokes, hubs, rim with each turn. 

As you may have guessed, I'm looking at buying new wheels again, this time for something that cheats the strong winds here, and tubeless to rein in flats, as this high desert is chock full of thorns  that get bad enough to flat me every-other ride at times. At $8 a tube, that's not only really inconvenient, but expensive too. 

After a lot of back & forth with Fairwheel Bikes, I'm leaning towards Colorado Cyclist again, (gulp - had some trouble with them before, but no good builder within 50mi of here) building on Chris King or DT Swiss hubs and Easton R90 SL rims, built 28/24 - 3x and 2x with bladed spokes.

Fairwheel Bikes customer service has been a little out to lunch - not necessarily bad, but slow to respond and most recently, a mail server meltdown that lost my order. Fairwheel does have some very nice Ti Carbon hubs that are very light though, and a great reputation, so I wouldn't want you to rule them out without talking to them. To be fair, at least part of the delay with Fairwheel was affordability on my end.

At 190lbs I don't quite trust the Ti Carbon hubs (162 grams rear hubs) to be durable enough long-term, nor Easton's factory built EA90 SL road wheelset with 24/20 spoking. I stumbled across the Williams Wheels analysis trying to check the right box on Colorado Cyclist build options pull-down, specifying 2x  or 3x with 28 spokes. I would have gone with 2x, but this clearly says 3x is better. Unfortunately, it's a computer analysis with no follow-up reporting variance with real-world testing of a prototype, but still compelling. 

As an update, after crashing and completely mangling my front wheel, I bought an "emergency" Mavic Cosmic Elite expecting it to last a few years. That was 7 yrs ago, 2 of which I didn't ride, but still surprised they're still serviceable, though at ~ 850 grams they're heavy and now loose as a goose. 

I rebuilt a new wheel on the Ultegra 6700 hub, switching to DT Swiss 465 rims with DT Revolution spokes and those ride SO, SO, SO much better around here on badly broken road surfaces. In addition to the Revolution spokes, I think the 3x lacing is a big help in making them more compliant than the radial Cosmic Elite - enough so that I am going with 2x lacing on my new front wheel. 

With bladed spokes I think 3x in front would be a little dense for the fierce cross-winds we get around here, and with rim brakes, there's no torque to consider. Radial would work fine, but would be a harsher ride.