Radial spokes? Retro or not

[thejackal]

Here's a question

Have been re-building/ restoring a 96 Cinder Cone to near it's original state.

Have now got the right rims and hubs ( thanks to Adam Gent ), but have bought some anodised electric blue nipples for the wheels. So not totally as it would have been BITD.

Now, here we go; I always wanted a bike with radial spoke wheels. Will the Kona SUS hub and Mavic 221 rim take this and is it in keeping with the biek and era, or is it simply a case of You want it, then just do it!?

Comments greatly appreciated.

 

[terryhfs]

Radial

I'd be very careful - radial spokes put different loads on the eyelets and it could just rip them out. You might just get away with it on the front, but I don't think it'll be too succesful on the back.

When you get a torsional load on the spoke, it shares the load with the ones it crosses - if it's radial there is nothing to share the load and so the stress is much greater.

I could be wrong though.

Terry...

 

[retrobikeguy]

What he says, front :?: mmmmmmmmmm' ok, rear best not to :?

 

[Tranquility Base]

I agree with those above on strength issues but from a retro point of view I remember them being all the rage in the mid 90's before going out of fashion until the pre-built boutique wheels of today started using radial again.
So a definite yes on the retro front and they do look kind of minimalist/cool.

 

[LTS Biker]

Ba aware of warranty fact, like Chris King. If use radial spokes, no more warranty.
But in the front will do. I have had a CK set, front radial and rear left radial and rear-driveside crossed. (only without warranty)

 

[No Longer Registered]

What hub will you be using for the build? I built a few radials in the past. All survived the test of time barring one that I bult on a ringle Bubba Hub which eventally failed catastrphicaly when the flange ripped a section of around 5-6 holes.

 

[P20]

Certain hubs are designed for the higher tensions of radial. My Bontrager Racelites were Chirs King hubs (made for bonty) radially laced to Bonty rims, yet they still had a warranty. Build them yourself and King wouldn't give a warranty :roll:
I don't personally like radial spoking so i had them relaced two cross anyway

 

[LTS Biker]

I don't know the warranty details of King hubs, but I only know, waaranty fails if you have spoked radial.
I was amazed by CK hubs on ebay, a lot in the US are radial spoked (Front).

 

[scant]

I had a radial built king wheel before king made that announcement.. & sure enough it broke the hub flange.
as mentioned from a retro point of view they were all the rage. personally unless its a specific built wheelset (IE mavic) then I'd never use radial again, weaker with only 8g weight saving (front wheel)!

 

[gaf16]

most of my wheels are radial spoked.
i just like the look of them over conventional spoke designs.
i've made sure mine were built by a respectable wheel builder though