#!markdown
A few things:
- You need a stronger rim because of the higher load at fewer points on the rim. There's not really any way around it, paired spokes or no. Given two wheels using the same type and size of rim, the one with the greater number of spokes will be stronger. To create two wheels of equal strength, but with one having 32 spokes and the other 24 spokes [assuming similar hubs are used], the 24 spoke wheel must have a stronger/stiffer rim. Physics says so. So does Jobst Brandt, and he literally wrote the book on this stuff.
- A significant [more than a few mm] flat spot in your rim means you have bent it inwards towards the hub. Since your spokes can't resist this bending force [no strength in compression!], the number of spokes and their placement is largely irrelevant. If you want to unbend your rim, you can try your luck with any number of presses or pulls, hydraulic or otherwise.
- A less significant flat spot in your rim can be taken out by tightening the spokes on the opposite side of the rim and loosening the ones at the site of the flat spot. This is the sort of thing you do when building a wheel up with a new rim that's slightly out of round.
- Regarding a wheel going out of true ["lateral failure"], more spokes makes a wheel more resistant to this. That is to say, the wheel is stronger with more spokes. All other things being equal, a 32-spoke wheel is inherently stronger and more resistant to going out of true than, for example, a 24-spoke wheel.
Nov. 19, 2013, 7:43 p.m. - PinkRobe
#!markdown A few things: - You need a stronger rim because of the higher load at fewer points on the rim. There's not really any way around it, paired spokes or no. Given two wheels using the same type and size of rim, the one with the greater number of spokes will be stronger. To create two wheels of equal strength, but with one having 32 spokes and the other 24 spokes [assuming similar hubs are used], the 24 spoke wheel must have a stronger/stiffer rim. Physics says so. So does Jobst Brandt, and he literally wrote the book on this stuff. - A significant [more than a few mm] flat spot in your rim means you have bent it inwards towards the hub. Since your spokes can't resist this bending force [no strength in compression!], the number of spokes and their placement is largely irrelevant. If you want to unbend your rim, you can try your luck with any number of presses or pulls, hydraulic or otherwise. - A less significant flat spot in your rim can be taken out by tightening the spokes on the opposite side of the rim and loosening the ones at the site of the flat spot. This is the sort of thing you do when building a wheel up with a new rim that's slightly out of round. - Regarding a wheel going out of true ["lateral failure"], more spokes makes a wheel more resistant to this. That is to say, the wheel is stronger with more spokes. All other things being equal, a 32-spoke wheel is inherently stronger and more resistant to going out of true than, for example, a 24-spoke wheel.