Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave-ROR
What you can learn is probably to pick wheels with big thick spokes intend of a bunch of little ones as thick spokes would be harder to bend or twist I'd think. Old Greg may know.
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It depends. A few big chunky spokes are likely to be stiffer than a bunch of little spindly ones, but the big chunky spokes don't support the wheel rim as well. So if the rim is thin and lightweight you may end up with more compliance anyway.
In general though, the depth of the spoke (from the outboard face to the inboard face) is much more important than the width. And the depth near the hub is more important than the depth at the rim. Hollow spokes are the best in terms of stiffness/weight if you can find them, but you can't do that with a forging, only with a casting. Oh, and three piece wheels are worse than single piece wheels, their only benefit is in having many available offsets/widths and being easier to repair (other than that, they suck).
Really, the best option is to just pick the wheels you like the most and not worry too much about the weight or stiffness. Because unless you're doing physical testing of several different alternatives all you can really do is guess. And unless you're racing competitively (ie. Solo Nationals, World Time Attack, SCCA Pro Racing, ALMS, etc) the difference in performance isn't worth worrying about.