recumpence
1 GW
Listen to John. He and I just had this conversation by phone not 4 days ago.
As one who has built a couple dozen rims and trued around 100 rims, I can attest to the fact that thin spokes have many advantages. Also, hub motors benefit from thicker spokes whereas mid drive bikes do not. The weight of a hub jars the heck out of the spokes on bumpy terrain. So, 12 gauge may be fine for a hub motor wheel (assuming the rim can handle the spoke tension). I run 14 gauge on my 28,000 watt bikes without problem. Heck, I actually have 15 gauge on one high power bike without a problem. However, that bike is mid drive and has full suspension.
Matt
As one who has built a couple dozen rims and trued around 100 rims, I can attest to the fact that thin spokes have many advantages. Also, hub motors benefit from thicker spokes whereas mid drive bikes do not. The weight of a hub jars the heck out of the spokes on bumpy terrain. So, 12 gauge may be fine for a hub motor wheel (assuming the rim can handle the spoke tension). I run 14 gauge on my 28,000 watt bikes without problem. Heck, I actually have 15 gauge on one high power bike without a problem. However, that bike is mid drive and has full suspension.
Matt