Front wheel; radial or cross spokes

^ You're right. If anyone wants the real in depth ans. to all things wheelbuilding, read Jost Brands Art of Wheelbuilding. I've tried and came to the conclusion that you basically want the most crosses and holes/9 = ans. :s

If you want to get mega techy (yes I love this shit). You can imagine a wave diagram representing the strain experianced by the spokes while riding. The closer to 90deg the lower the amplitude, with 0 (radial) giving the maximum. This requires more tension to keep the nipples from working loose through the repeated cycle.

Going all radial does mean you can put all the spokes 'heads-in' giving a better overal bracing angle. I imagine thats a pretty small difference though. Still, when my rims arrive I'll be building a 20 spoke radial front, using a nice wide Tune Mig70.

The rear will be triplet, 16 spoke 3x, DS and 8 spoke 1x, NDS. The triplet pattern looks rad with radial NDS (as you say Hugo7, it matches the front too), but Tune dont recomend it for their 32 hole hubs.

(NB: I'm just a nerd, not a pro wheel builder)

most importantly, it looks rad

Aero, rad, and a bit lighter. What was it Bontrager said....?