Road Bikes with Disc Brakes - Wheel question?

[Carge]

A friend of mine has recently bought a road bike with disc brakes on it - not a CX bike.
The wheels are fairly basic and chunky - so would be first on my list for an upgrade.

Apart from the fact that I can't see the point of discs on a road bike to begin with - I see this as limiting choice of upgrades - and begs the question:-

Given that a road bike cries out for lighter wheels with fewer spokes - what's the minimum spoke count considered safe on a disc brake wheel?

The spokes and eyelets/rim have to take the braking force - not an issue with rim brakes.
There's 24h MTB disc hubs out there - so that must be safe?

 

[fagin]

Depends on the wheel build and bits used I suppose.
I have Fulcrum wheels with 24 spokes, but they use 16 on the drive side (rear) and braking side (front) and 8 on the other. Have been hammered for a good few years (on my main modern FS bike) and I've had one broken spoke about 2 years ago. Both are still tight and true.