Spokes, straight vs bent

New wheels on the horizon, straight pull look bling and the physics seems logical. But…maybe it’s a nominal improvement if at all.

I favour performance over aesthetics, but obviously aesthetics counts.

Straight pull spokes are way better than conventional ones, which break ALL the time. No spares are available, becuase you’ll never need them.

Seriously, they both work fine, conventional ones are much easier to get as spares.

Rubbish – my mate snapped 3 straight pull spokes in Chatel last year and no spares in sight – would have been a doddle to fix with standard spokes.

Can you read?

Straight can also rotate when being adjusted, which is a right pain in the bum. Perhaps there’s advantages but all I’ve ever found is disadvantages with mine.

I think bent seems the easier bet, the late great Sheldon Brown has got me thinking about a half radial half crows foot rear wheel…

That’s 2 leading, 2 trailing right?

3 leading 3 lagging, my favourite build so far 🙂

That is actually quite cool.

Holding up ok?

You done that drop off yet?

J bend spokes are the way forward. Slightly easier to break. Hell of a lot easier to fix.

Now, i have to say that straight pulls are better. The wheels can be built stiffer which means better turning, and better power transfer.

Is that extra stiffness measured or perceived? Not being pedantic, genuinely curious.

For any advantages you might get with straight, they are negated by the difficulty of finding replacements… J bend spokes can be found everywhere.
Unless you plan to carry a full compliment of replacements everywhere you go, get j bend!

Onza dog,

I was at an uplift last weekend, and i had two sets of wheels with me.

First up was my hope pro2 on mavix EX729 wheels (32x J-bend spokes). Ran these for 5 runs of the course, then at lunch time, i switched to my Mavic crossmax SX wheels (24x straight pull spokes), swapped the tyres over and had the same pressures. You could feel the difference in turning – the bike turned much more positively. You can also feel the difference when cranking out of corners.

So yes, the stiffness was ‘percieved’ but also slightly measured.

anto164 – Member

First up was my hope pro2 on mavix EX729 wheels (32x J-bend spokes). Ran these for 5 runs of the course, then at lunch time, i switched to my Mavic crossmax SX wheels (24x straight pull spokes), swapped the tyres over and had the same pressures. You could feel the difference in turning – the bike turned much more positively. You can also feel the difference when cranking out of corners.

And you know that’s because of the spokes being straight pull, not because there’s 8 less? Or one of the other various differences caused by a wheelset that weighs about 2/3ds as much as the other? 😕

There was also a lot less noticable flex in the wheel when holding it.

Oh hang on, I had that all back to front, sorry 😳

But the point remains, there were more variables than just the shape of the spokes.

I think a good test would be same rim, same hub but in both variants and as similar weight spokes (same number) as poss. There must be mechanical tests comparing such things?

If it can mean equal strength, but a lighter setup, that’s a pretty big deal!

I was just about to flame anto164, what a comical comparison. Glad someone beat me to it in a tactful manner.

kepe readign the magazines mate!

J-bend. Straight pull are a bugger to true, a bugger to replace and IMO have no real performance advantages.

Hope Hoops Pro 2 vs SP-XC6s would be the test I guess.

Ah, the sweet reality of bargain purchases has bitten down it’s jaws. Second hand ftw. Hope II EN 321 on it’s way. Holding out for a Hope II AM rear on ebay.

As they say in the US, “get bent”.

I bought a set of (roger musson)Hope pro 3/stans 355 (straight pull) about 2 and half years ago. They’ve been everywhere and I broke 1 spoke on the rear last month. Mate replaced it no problem

Not sure if it’s better than j bend or not but they seem to be holding up well and feel very light