Snowflaked wheels.

[mikefoster]

I'm a bit new to this site but have been riding mtbs since the early 90's and have seen many different fads come and go. After looking through the readers bikes i'm not seeing many snowflaked wheels. Is anybody out there still running them and what do you think of them. I know they have a lot of downsides with strength and tension issues when building but i think they still look geat.
Any thoughts?

My 93/94 217 Hope Suspension.

 

[delboy009]

Personally I love em Had one on the front of my Team Klein Attitude in the early naughties !!

I only wished I remembered how to build one correctly !!!

 

[fingers]

I think they looks ace but at 110kgs prob shouldnt be buying any!!!!

 

[mikefoster]

I never built one myself but i had i mate who was good at building them. Even had a rear campy rim with a std driveside and snowflaked non driveside. It didn't last very long though, seem to work better on the front.
The one in the pic was built by Paul Hewitt and is still going strong!!!!

 

[drystonepaul]

I've got a couple of front wheels with snowflakes. One of them is on an XT M730 hub which I've had since new in about 1992. Apart from swapping rims when I've dented them or worn them out it's been no problem at all. Regularly ridden for about 17 years isn't bad going. I do check the spoke tension every now and then but to be honest I rarely need to touch them.
Wouldn't use flakes on the back wheel though.

Plus non retro biking mates still think they look amazing for some reason, and stand there shaking their heads in disbelief.

 

[lewis1641]

i think they look cool. never had one but would love too still. i think part of the retrobike charm is the stuff that isnt that great but it was just how things were back in the day. thats the reason classic car bufs put 8 traqcks in their cars i guess!

 

[mtbfix]

Longer spokes equals flexy wheels. I ran one for a while way back when but figured that shorter,crossed spokes makes for a superior wheel. They certainly look the bomb on the right bike though.

 

[elite504]

mm not sure about that. +3mm on the spokes is FA, and the tight twist, well wouldn't that be like a finger squeezing at the cross pinch. Been running SF fronts for nearly 20 years on all my regular riders. Feel the same as tied and solder as I have on the roadie. But driveside rear is definately always out. . .

 

[MikeD]

Wheels that work = three-cross. Anything else is just for looks.

 

[adamgent]

Wheels that work = three-cross. Anything else is just for looks.

I think I disagree; I also like Crow Feet spoke pattern - rotational rigidity of traditional cross spoke with torsional rigidity of radial.

And not quite so obvious as snow flake but different enough to be noticed if you look.

Only problem is you can only do it on 36 hole hubs and rims so heavier than 28 or 32 spoke.