The non drilled rim will be stronger by 43.345 units.
The truth is, that cannot be measured. It depends on a lot of things. As Kris said, given the exact same conditions on both rims, the non drilled will be stronger. The question is: will you ever need that extra strength?
I’m glad you just posted this…
I just had the “pleasure” of my local bike shop staff pulling thier hair out trying to locate those spokes as well. The owner told me that the two best wheel builders in North America have never even heard of them. I’m having them rebuild my KH20 with the toughest 2.0 spokes they can get ahold of with brass nipples just to make the strongest wheel that they can for me. I’m not too worried about it though cuz it’ll still be at least next year before I’m doing anything hard/tall enough to make the thing flinch.
sorry for the double post…server sucks tonight.
Yes…
If I’m not mistaken 14g are 2.0mm, and 13g spokes are 2.3mm.
That would be the diameter in mm, Terry. And yes, brass nipples will be stronger than aluminum.
My post won’t edit…gr…
2.0mm is 14G, 1.8mm is 15G, 2.34mm is 12G.
not to be a pain or anything, i was a little angry and out of it earlier, but about those nipples, is that a common problem or could I have defective ones. I didn’t put much pressure at all on them.
and a place to find those spokes/nipples would be nice.
both the bikeshops in my town said that they used to carry them because they were popular for a while, but it was a while back, so they don’t bother with the stuff any more and they couldn’t find anything through their catalog(they are too lame to look any harder than that for anything.)
12 gauge will likely not fit, although you could probably do some modifications to make it fit.
I switched to 13g instead of 14g because I found that they seemed to stretch less (ie I have to tighten all spokes less frequently), and they kept the wheel in true for longer without adjustment. Also, I found that in some trials lines I would break the spokes by catching them on something (usually during gaps to pedal grabs) and 13g seems a bit stronger for that too.
All the KH unis used to come with 14g spokes, so a well-built wheel with that is OK. UDC should have replacement 13g spokes, but it’s true that they are hard to find at a LBS.
Kris
hehe! 
I know that Sapim makes a tandem spoke that is 13g at the hub, and then butts to 14g. Wheelsmith definitely makes a 13g spoke, and so does DT. you probably can’t use the DT alpine sproke, due to the butting, for a trials wheel, but it should work for a MUni wheel, but you might need to lace 4X. Any bike store should be able to get 13g spokes easily.
However, more of a problem might be the cutting of the spokes. I doubt that these companies sell any spokes, stock that come in the length required for trials wheels. You should search around for a shop that has a Phil Wood spoke cutting machine. I know Darren has one, but you might get lucky and find a local shop with one. If the shop has one of these machines, you should be able to get the correct spokes no problem at all. Just make sure they have the phil wood machine, and not the park tool spoke threader.
As far as strength goes, you should be fine with 14g spokes, as long as they are high quality, and have a rolled threads, and are well built. (these are much more of factors to wheel strength, than spoke thickness)
Anyways, I think its pretty lame that all you guys are complaining about tensioning your wheels. If a wheel has proper tension, it will be stronger than a wheel without proper tension REGARDLESS of the rim. In theory all that A rim needs to accomplish is the hold the tire in place, and support sufficient tension from the spokes. As it is, the KH rims are overbuilt for what they need to accomplish, however, for riders who are too lazy to tension their wheels, then any rim will flatspot.
If you have one loose spoke, then the entire wheels is compromised. What people need to understand is that spoked wheels are dynamic, allways moving when different forces are applied. When one spoke is loose, then the force in that area is put directly on the rim, instead of being supported by the spokes, as it should be.
Anyways, If your serious about unicycling, do some research on how to build, and maintain wheels properly. Its especially important in unicycling since we always hop in the same place in the wheel.
A E Bike lists 10 pages of 100’s of spokes
Maybe they have something for you.
http://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30&action=list&Category=470&type=T
“Always?” Well, in my case I regularly rotate my cranks about 90 degrees every couple weeks or so, and also the tire. This will help keep the tread wear more even, and keep the drop forces on the wheel more balanced, instead of always on the same spot. I also try to check my spoke tension every few days (since I ride almost daily) and simply tighten any loose ones I may find.
Well, then you always hop on the same 4 spots. Ryan’s point still holds: trials bikers hop on every single point of their rim.
True mainly in trials. Muni has you landing on different spots. Then again, some people always drop a few times before a drop so they are in their main hopping position.
In biking, they are hitting all 360 degrees of their rim throughout the day.
For unicycling, even if you do rotate your cranks, you still concentrate on just one area at a time.
I should have been less specific about the rotation; I actually try to rotate up to 90 degrees each time, which really turns out to be more like 20-45 degrees sometimes, then 90 other times. But now That I’m thinking about it, I’m going to start doing the smaller rotations each time. And btw, even 4 spots are way better then only ONE spot only!
but the brakes often catch the exact same part of the rim, causing a flat spot in the tire, especially true of the kid bikes w/ pedal-backwards-brakes
can someone link me up to some 13guage nipples in the US pleeeease
so you are risking a $150 hub and crank set as opposed to a $50 (not sure on cost) rim. the hub and crankset will start to not go together as well after taking it apart a couple of times. also it means you will hop on the seam. which is the weak part of the rim (directly across from the valve hole)
So your advice is to not rotate the cranks? And you say it takes only TWO cranks removals to cause a fit problem? Wow! Ok I guess I was dead wrong. (I should mention however, that I have removed the cranks on at least 5 occasions with absolutely no noticeable difference in fit; it’s still as snug and solid as ever with zero play. Oh and I haven’t had the need to use loctite either)
Btw, since you said you weren’t sure about the rim cost, the LM rim, depending on where you buy it, ranges from $89 at AE bikes, to well over $135 elswhere.