Spoke count for the street (36, 32 or 28)

**Sheldon Brown:
**

The Great Spoke Scam: In the early '80s a clever marketeer hit upon the idea of using only 32 spokes in wheels for production bikes. Because of the association of 32 spoke wheels with exotic high performance bikes, the manufacturers were able to cut corners and save money while presenting it as an "upgrade!" The resulting wheels were noticeably weaker than comparable 36 spoke wheels, but held up well enough for most customers.
Since then this practice has been carried to an extreme, with 28, 24, even 16 spoke wheels being offered, and presented as it they were somehow an "upgrade."
Actually, such wheels normally are not an upgrade in practice. When the spokes are farther apart on the rim, it is necessary to use a heavier rim to compensate, so there isn't usually even a weight benefit from these newer wheels!
This type of wheel requires unusually high spoke tension, since the load is carried by fewer spokes. If a spoke does break, the wheel generally becomes instantly unridable.
If you want highest performance, it is generally best to have more spokes in the rear wheel than the front. For instance, 28/36 is better than 32/32 People very rarely have trouble with front wheels:

I use 32 on my work bike without problems and a courier wheel is likely to take more battering than a commuter one.

Will, although you weigh less than my breakfast you're right. 32h has been fine for me for years.

rotating weight makes a difference

there's no point in having more weight than necessary

a well built wheel with 32 spokes will be more than strong enough

This is true, but with an extra 2/3/4 grams per wheel the difference is equal to less than fuck all, as is the strength difference - as dougal says it's more about quality of build than quantity of spokes.
I got 36h rims and hubs cos that was what was offered; any concerns of extra weight vs. extra strength I wouldn't have thought would be an issue for the average person getting a wheelset (other than for some sort of conformity I suppose).
The only real disadvantage to riding 36h is the odd tiresome know-all now and again condescendingly wondering why you felt it necessary to build over-strong and heavy 36h wheels.

by my calculations a spoke weighs around 6g, so 24g per wheel extra weight on a 36 over a 32-spoke. rotating.

haha there's my guesstimation out the window then! But still, 24g... that's a bit more than less than fuck all, but not much more

Plus nipples?

Will, although you weigh less than my breakfast you're right. 32h has been fine for me for years.

I weigh less than my own breakfast Hippy.

Plus nipples?

mindfuck.

I weigh less than my own breakfast Hippy.

You have a breakfast hippy? Is that like a sort of ayurvedic life-coach?

I weigh more than my mid-morning hipster though

My brunchenger is a fat fuck.

i was actually thinking 36 rear and 32 front but then maybe 36 front if laced radially...? shall i stop talking shit now?

by the way i weigh about ten stone.

You'd really have to be concerned about tyre weights too if you're worrying about extra weight from spokes, as it seems there is as much as 80g difference in weights on some of the more popular tyres - christ knows how much more your wheels weigh if you ride 28s instead of 23s...

Latex tubes?

I going to have to swap out my gold valve caps now for some carbon ones

i was actually thinking 36 rear and 32 front but then maybe 36 front if laced radially...? shall i stop talking shit now?

by the way i weigh about ten stone.

32h for both, radial & 3-cross... then move on!

;-)

I going to have to swap out my gold valve caps now for some carbon ones

Who the fuck uses presta valve caps on the road?

i was actually thinking 36 rear and 32 front but then maybe 36 front if laced radially...? shall i stop talking shit now?

by the way i weigh about ten stone.

so you are 36 hole to my 28

Who the fuck uses presta valve caps on the road?

I do; when someone in a car cuts me up I reach down, unscrew them and throw them at the offside front window.

ah, that's what they're for!

Who the fuck uses presta valve caps on the road?

I do, but with a dummy glued to the opposite side of the wheel to offset any imbalance caused by the uneven weight distribution

I've stopped using tyres on my wheels to cut down on rotating weight. Next I'm getting rid of the wheels altogether.

I've stopped smiling while I ride... it's more aero

I've stopped using tyres on my wheels to cut down on rotating weight. Next I'm getting rid of the wheels altogether.

I hope you're going to use a brake though, the extra speed you will gain will make you a liability on the road

Nah, I use my feet. I don't wear shoes though because of ambulatory weight issues.