Road Wheels & Road Wheel Recommendations?

Who is this EdwardZ chap and where the fuck did he come from?

Just do a little search and connect the dots. I don't hide.

I'd go ∞ on the rear to be on the fast side.

Increasing spoke count does not increase wheel reliability. The magic numbers 40, 36 and 32 were arrived at through empirical observation. It was long ago found that a properly built 36-spoke wheel could continue to be used with a broken or missing spoke but that with 32 the wheel starts to pretzel. The 40 spoked wheel has more or less become obsolete in this application due to the observation that little was being gained over 36-- especially combined with the improvements in spokes and shorter usage cycles of wheels which has significantly reduced the frequency of spoke failures. I've posted here links to FEM analysis of the bicycle wheel and it confirms with the empirical revelation.

In all of this I'm reminded of a wheel that Paul Liu (Lew wheels) developed back in the early mid-1990s.

United States Patent 5,490,719
Lew February 13, 1996
Racing wheel

Abstract
A racing wheel for a vehicle such as a bicycle. The wheel includes a rotationally stationary inner component connectable to the bicycle, a rotatable outer hoop having a bearing engaging surface, a ground engaging tread disposed on the outer hoop, and bearings mounted on the inner component to be rotationally stationary therewith. The bearings each include a support surface contoured to operatively engage the outer hoop bearing engaging surface such that the outer hoop is axially and radially supported relative to the inner component to allow rotation therebetween. The bearings are positioned around the inner component at particularly selected locations to achieve high wheel performance.

Inventors: Lew; Paul E. (Indianapolis, IN)
Assignee: Wear and Tear, Inc. (Indianapolis, IN)
Family ID: 26865200
Appl. No.: 08/276,258
Filed: July 18, 1994