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I think Lasers/D-Light have their place (used that combination on a pair of underbuilt 28/32 rims).
According to this deep section carbon rims with lightweight spokes might produce some undesirable results.When you start climbing or sprinting on a carbon wheel, the stiff rim tends to want to stay perfectly straight – relative to itself.
This gets compounded by the fact that most “race” wheels have thin aerodynamic spokes – AND not very many of them. On top of that, in very recent years, we have also seen carbon rims grow in both width and depth – subsequently gaining both lateral and radial stiffness.
What this adds up to is the perfect wheel storm: An astoundingly stiff, deep-section carbon rim – strapped on to a handful of thin aero spokes. The stiff rim can literally overpower the spokes. If your rim rubs your rear brake pads, this is probably why.
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gertrudestein
After much sitting on the fence I've decided to go down the custom wheelset path after realising that it isn't horrendously expensive and gives me the chance to nerd out a bit on components that I normally overlook. This is for an MGOOF project so weight and performance aren't my guiding criteria. That said, if these can be achieved without spending big £, it would obviously be nice to be as light and stiff as possible. Which leads nicely to my question on spokes.
First, some context:
I've been looking at Sapim's range as it was easiest for a layman like me to understand. CX ray I needed no introduction to. But at around £2.50/spoke this is excessive for a non-aero frame. So I'm leaning more towards the Lasers or D-lights. Lasers get a bad rep from what I've seen - are they that much of a pain? The D-lights seem to be solid but with a minor weight penalty. I'm also thinking that I could maybe put lasers on the front and d-lights on the rear - is this a good way to go? In case it makes a difference, I'm going for silver spokes and nipples. And brass vs. alloy nipples?
Big thanks in advance for any advice. And if I should be considering Pillars or DT offerings I'm happy to consider them. Ta