Bicycle wheel how well the wheel transmits propulsive and braking forces, if applied at the hub, as in the case of hub or disc brakes. Several factors affect these stiffnesses to varying degrees. These include wheel radius, rim bending and torsional stiffness, number of spokes, spoke gauge, lacing pattern, hub stiffness, hub flange spacing, hub radius. In general lateral and radial stiffness decreases with the number of spoke crossings and torsional stiffness increases with the number of spoke crossings. One factor that has little influence on these stiffnesses is spoke tension. Too much spoke tension, however, can lead to catastrophic failure in
Wheelbuilding a convention, if the hub has a maker's label on its barrel, for the label to face (and be readable through) the valve hole. See Gerd Schraner for methodology. The rim labels should be readable from the right-hand side (drive side) of the bicycle. The hub labels should face in the same direction front and rear (generally so they are readable from the seat), this means that even an undished, symmetrical front wheel has to be laced to the rim the "proper" way round, if perfection is the aim. Wheelbuilding Wheelbuilding is the process of assembling wire wheels (generally a