What is up with bladed spokes on AM wheels?

[Dickeymotto]

A question that has been bothering me for a while. Why do some manufacturers build their AM/Enduro wheels with bladed spokes? Is the difference in aerodynamics really worth it? It would seem increasing the strength and stiffness of the wheel would be much more important to this segment of riding. Prime examples are DT Swiss's EX 1750 and WTB's Stryker TCS AM.

[rideit]

Supposedly SapimX-ray bladed spokes are stronger in application than 2.0...

[Gone Skiing]

It has to help w/ aerodynamics, and every bit is nice when you're climbing your piggy AM bike up some shit.

[DFK827]

Maybe cause your a fag

[bfree]

^ Can we ban this guy? Fuckin loser.

[LeeLau]

Sapim spokes like Dickey said. One thing Sapims can do is take a lot of tension. That helps when you're building light wheels

[rideit]

I built up some X rays/Chris Kings on a Stan's 350 gram rim, those things were the lightest wheels that I ever rocked. Ran em two seasons on rocky chunder, here, porc, Austin, Colorado, goose...and still sold the set for over $500, they were still nearly perfectly true. And this was on first gen Stan's Olympics, kinda buttery rims to begin with.

[willmtbike4food]

It's not just CX-Rays that are really nice bladed spokes - some of my favorite wheels have been built with DT Aerolites. IMO, the big advantage of CX-Rays is they don't require a special hub flange drilling to accommodate the bladed portion of the spoke.

In either case, bladed spokes seem to build up a stiffer wheel - however, this may also be due to rim choice - I haven't built wheels with the same hub/rim combo with the same tension, only difference being round/aero spokes, to compare stiffness; all of the wheels I've built with aero spokes have been with high quality rims in the first place.

Lastly, for comparable strength, aero spokes are typically lighter than straight/butted counterparts; and anything you can do to reduce your rotating weight - especially if there's no sacrifice in durability - is for the better.

[jm2e]

Does aerodynamics ever really play a significant role in any mountain biking? Given all the factors involved, I would think areodynamics would show up way at the bottom of the list.

[Hicks]

The only reason CX Rays stand a higher tension is they are made from a higher alloyed material grade than their round counterparts. As said some manufacturers try to take advantage of that for a lighter built.
Have a DT Swiss wheel spoked with DT Aerolites (same as CX Ray) - results pending.

That said some strong riders I happen to know who are seriously XC racing all went away from the CX Rays since they had to true the wheels all the time. They are using standard round spokes again.

[axebiker]

All I can say in regards to bladed spokes - what a PAIN when you have to true up a wheel. I won't use them.

[rideit]

Not really a pain, if you have the right tools. Think itty bitty crescent wrenches or the equivalent wrenches that come with high end bladed wheel sets. In fact, it actually is easier to prevent spoke windup than with a round spoke, now that I think about it.

[VTskibum]

^^ exactly

Have a King/CX-ray/Crest 29er wheelset, that is running crazy high tension and have never needed to touch them.

[willmtbike4food]

^^ exactly

Have a King/CX-ray/Crest 29er wheelset, that is running crazy high tension and have never needed to touch them.

Might want to make sure you don't have that any higher than maybe 110kgf - I believe that's a rim Stan's rates to tolerate 100kgf; I've found them to be okay at about 10% higher, but not worth pushing it, a good impact and you could pull spokes through the rim...

[VTskibum]

At spec they've loosed 2x (once completely de-tensioned), well above (can't tell you how much, buddy and pro-racer re-tensioned last time) and they've been fine for over 500 miles off-road since

Stan's specs are too low and even a 10% increase is low IMO.