funtank said:
We are just talking about spokes no reason for name calling. I have worked in shops for 10 years, and I have raced downhill for at least ten years. So I have built, repaired, destroyed, a lot of wheels. Alpine spokes are a pain in the ass like I said, you said yourself the hubs need a little rigging so the spokes will work. Why not just use convential spokes? If you like Alpine spokes that is great but it does not mean everyone has too like them. Relax a little their JM no reason to take everything so personal.
Ok, sorry for the name calling, but you had some blatently wrong statements there.
You said that spokes that are thinner in the middle are good. Alpine IIIs are thinner in the middle. A crappy build with alpine IIIs will be a crappy wheel. A good build with Alpine IIIs will be a stronger build compared to the same wheel without alpine IIIs.
What I said was that with every hub that i'd laced up with alpine IIIs, there was no problem. I didn't have to do any "rigging".
Alpine IIIs are "conventional" spokes, for "unconveitional" guys that may be clydes, or serious thrashers.
And lastly, I am not talking about what someone "likes" here, I am talking about the strength of the spokes, and there is no argument on this. If thinks he can get away with "normal" build, then great, but by the sounding of his post, it sounded like he wanted a wheel that was somewhat overbuilt, not just a run-of-the mill one.
BTW, Alpine IIIs are tripple butted, but your statement was completely wrong. The middles are thinner than both of the ends. There are 3 diameters on the spoke (hence the "III" name). The fattest is at the elbow, the thinnest is in the middle, and at the nipple it grows to an intermediary size between the two. It is most definitely "thinnest" in the middle. They kind of look like oversize revolution spokes at first. The reason I like DTs is due to their "smooth" taper or butting between sections, as compared to wheelsmiths.