Lacing Pattern

General
1

I’m just building my first unicycle wheel. Does anyone have any
suggestions on better (i.e. stronger) lacing patterns for a unicycling
wheel, or does everyone just use the standard cross-3 pattern. It seems to
me that unicycle wheels probably suffer from a lot more lateral force, and
more symmetric front/back torque than a standard bicycle.

(I’m building a 24" wheel with a sun double wide rim)

Please let me know what you think,

Brad Davis, davis (at) enel (dot) ucalgary (dot) ca

2

Brad,

I’ve tried both 3-cross and 4-cross patterns; 3 cross is stiffer and seems
to hold up better in my experience.

-Kris — Brad Davis <davis@enel.ucalgary.ca> wrote:
> I’m just building my first unicycle wheel. Does anyone have any
> suggestions on better (i.e. stronger) lacing patterns for a unicycling
> wheel, or does everyone just use the standard cross-3 pattern. It seems
> to me that unicycle wheels probably suffer from a lot more lateral
> force, and more symmetric front/back torque than a standard bicycle.
>
> (I’m building a 24" wheel with a sun double wide rim)
>
> Please let me know what you think,
>
> Brad Davis, davis (at) enel (dot) ucalgary (dot) ca
>

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3

I’ve got a 4-cross pattern running on a supposedly bullet proof Dirtworks
Dice Two-Four rim (24"). I didn’t build it, but the guy who did has a
reputation for being a fantastic wheel builder. He said he’d never seen a
rim so strong before, and thought it could cope with the extra forces
associated with the 4-cross pattern. So far I haven’t had any problems
with it, including 2-3 foot drops and lots of sideways hopping. It doesn’t
even strain under harsh sideways mounts or standing on the rim sideways.
Whether this is a reflection of the rim or spoking I can’t say, however.

nic

On Sat, 28 Jul 2001, Brad Davis wrote:

> I’m just building my first unicycle wheel. Does anyone have any
> suggestions on better (i.e. stronger) lacing patterns for a unicycling
> wheel, or does everyone just use the standard cross-3 pattern. It seems
> to me that unicycle wheels probably suffer from a lot more lateral
> force, and more symmetric front/back torque than a standard bicycle.
>
> (I’m building a 24" wheel with a sun double wide rim)
>
> Please let me know what you think,
>
> Brad Davis, davis (at) enel (dot) ucalgary (dot) ca

4

>> wheel, or does everyone just use the standard cross-3 pattern. It seems
>

For 48 spokes 4 cross is standard (same angle as 3 cross on 36).

Sometimes the spoke hole angle or eyelet angle stops you doing a higher
cross pattern.
e.g. 4 cross on a 36 spoke 24" might produce an unwanted bend in the spoke
just after the nipple.

A bigger hub flange and/or a smaller rim will exaggerate this angle - most
unicycle hub flanges are bigger than MTB or BMX flanges - so what might on
a bike might not work on a uni wheel.

I’ve built some Onza (Monty size rims) as 2 cross for this reason (with
12G spokes)

Also I think Semcycle (pro) wheels are built 1 cross!

Leo White