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I've been rather successful with any wheels I've build in the past, but they've all been pretty vanilla designs, 28 or 32 J bend spokes, 3 cross, standard hubs. I'm doing some new ones for my commuter bike however which has dynamo front and Alfine rear hubs so the flange diameter is huge compared to what I've done before.
Anything I need to do differently? The spokes are going to be coming into the rim at a much more acute angle so I'm planning on paying even more attention to setting them at the nipple end. I'm always careful about that anyway and de-stressing the spoke to deal with any wind up during the build.
Ta.
2 cross I believe is the answer. thats whats recommended for rohloffs and how both mine are built. similar size flange to the alfine
My first wheel was a large flange track hub. Two cross worked fine. Haven't died yet.
Damn, that's a good point. It never occurred to me to count the cross before I dismantled them last night, and I've already ordered the spokes. I'll have to look into that.
I had no issues building my Alfine and Dynamo 3x on a 32h pattern, but these days I always build 2X as rims are MUCH stiffer than they used to be, so I don't think the additional strength is required.  I always use double or triple butted spokes and I think I built mine with Sapim D-Lights which're strong, but quite flexible to build with.
This is the rear wheel as it was built on the bike. Even with the way it's photographed, I'm pretty sure that's 3x, would you agree? Probably better to stick with that so the existing little deformations around the spoke holes are laced the same.
That looks like 3x to me - one of the crosses is very close to the hub
Yeah, that's how I saw it too. Cheers. I'll stick with the original plan then and not overdo the tension, which is one of the reason's I'm doing this - the rear was so tight it were cracking the rim around the spoke holes!
Probably could have got it sorted under warrantee, but the shop is bloody miles away, (2x trips to deliver/collect) and I like building wheels anyway.
might depend a bit on the wheel size - if its 29er/700c I think 3x is fine, if its a smaller wheel I'd maybe go 2x
Yup, I've got bog standard 3x on my Shimano XT/ 700c dynamo wheel. There's miles of clearance between each spoke and the next.
Yeah, it's 700C.
I've got other bikes if it all goes horribly wrong. 👍