# What the heck is triplet lacing?



## skygodmatt (May 24, 2005)

Can someone explain the theory behind triplet rear wheel spoke lacing? 
32 hole hub with 24 spokes? What cross patterns and spoke diameters does a builder use? Since every wheel is a compromise, what are the tradeoffs?

MP


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## ergott (Feb 26, 2006)




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## ergott (Feb 26, 2006)

Normally, a triplet pattern sacrifices some lateral stiffness for the sake of almost even tension between the left and right sides. The tension is more even in this pattern than any other hub/rim combination. If the components are chosen wisely, you can use fewer spokes because the spokes are not as susceptible to going slack at any time. You need a rear hub with wide flange spacing to minimize the loss in lateral stiffness.

The pattern is 1X left and 3X right. Notice that the left side spokes are all heads in. This makes the center to left spokes great than a regular pattern creating a better bracing angle. The left side spokes are also Sapim Race (2.0/1.8/2.0mm) spokes compared to the Sapim CX-Ray spokes on the right side.

This combination actually makes this pattern have batter lateral stiffness than a regular 24 2X wheel with all CX-Rays. The weight penalty for the 8 Race spokes is about 10g. I think it looks cool too.

-Eric


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## rruff (Feb 28, 2006)

Gold hub and nipples... very pretty...

I'll add that the Tune hub is a good one for this, and even though you would lose some lateral stiffness going with all CX-Rays, most people think it is plenty stiff. As Eric said the NDS tension is higher so it takes more of a load to make them go slack... and spokes going slack is when you usually run into problems. 

If you could space out the NDS flange a little farther it would be almost ideal. The only issue with triplet is that the rim goes way out of true if a NDS spoke breaks.


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## skygodmatt (May 24, 2005)

thanks....interesting...will it work for a pair of climing wheels for a 190 lb rider?


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## rruff (Feb 28, 2006)

skygodmatt said:


> thanks....interesting...will it work for a pair of climing wheels for a 190 lb rider?


Probably not bad. Having 16 tangential spokes on the drive side helps with the torque. You can also use a 36h rim and hub, and do a 18+9 triplet. For that one you don't need a center-drilled rim, but you need to cut out some little pieces of electrical tape to cover the holes in the rim that aren't used. For 16+8 on a 24h rim you need to use a pretty stiff rim that is center drill (not offset). The Nio30 is a good one to use.


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## wankski (Jul 24, 2005)

hmmm, i thought of doing this for a rear - seems interesting - essentially what campy does w/ G3 and fulcrum w/ 2:1.... i like it in principle...

question... campy 32h front hub.... could you just lace every second hole to make a 16 spoke front wheel? 1x or perhaps 2x to be safe w/ the flange since campy doesn't warantee radial AFAIK. normally i would flinch at this, but that is essentially what you are running on the NDS of the rear wheel w/ similar tension... (well a lot higher than normal NDS)...

thoughts?


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## rruff (Feb 28, 2006)

No problem that I know of. You'd want to lace 1x though... 2x is too many. You could take a 36h hub and lace it 2x with 18 spokes.


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## wankski (Jul 24, 2005)

thanks mate... 1x is fine.... can't swap and change hubs easily is why i ask.. looks like my options are 32h only front/rear....

this is a really great idea... now u can make fancy low spoke wheel out of relatively cheap veloce hubs for example... hrmmm...


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## Appendage (Dec 28, 2006)

*Why 1x instead of radial on the NDS?*



ergott said:


> The pattern is 1X left and 3X right. -Eric


Why 1x instead of radial?


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## ergott (Feb 26, 2006)

The Tune left flange isn't made for radial lacing. There have been a couple of cases of them breaking. Since the tension is higher than normal, I wanted to cross the spokes which is better for the flanges. There is more material in the direction of the spoke tension.

-Eric


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## Appendage (Dec 28, 2006)

*Thanks, mang!*



ergott said:


> The Tune left flange isn't made for radial lacing.  There have been a couple of cases of them breaking. Since the tension is higher than normal, I wanted to cross the spokes which is better for the flanges. There is more material in the direction of the spoke tension.
> 
> -Eric


 Thanks for being so generous with your knowledge, Eric.


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## ergott (Feb 26, 2006)

My pleasure.

-Eric


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