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@gbj_tester
In fact, carbon fibre is a dumb material choice for spokes however you use it. Steel is better, simply because the spoke a pretty much a pure tension element, and steel has a high Young's modulus, allowing adequately stiff wheels to be built with a smaller total cross sectional area of spokage than other common engineering materials. Since the spokes contribute hugely to the aerodynamic drag of a wheel, getting the spoke cross section minimised is half the battle in making a fast wheel. The trivial weight penalty of using steel compared with lower density alternatives is massively outweighed by the aerodynamic gains from thin spokes.