Twisted spokes.

[BlackPanther]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ice-t-tri...1572441137?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item19fa3c5831

Just spotted these on my regular 'eBay recumbent watch' (still looking in vain for a Bachettea Strada/Corsa.) All the wheels on this Ice have twisted spokes. What advantage (if any) is there to doing this? I've never seen it before.

 

[starhawk]

I can't see any advantage at all just the disadvantage of when one of the spoke breakes it must be a fiddle to get the old one out and a new one through the spokeholes in the hub and then treading them. It may be a way of going round the problem of having to long spokes but I rather buy shorter spokes. With "regular" spokes there is no problem if one spoke breaks but here you loose two if one breaks. I think it's just a fashion-thing, not pratical at all.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

That used to be popular with mountain bikers back in the early 90s. We called them snowflake wheels back then. There is no advantage to them, in fact they made a slightly weaker wheel.

It was a purely visual thing. Like, radical gnarly, dude!

 

[screenman]

Style if I remember is all it was about. I have seen quite a few, but there again I have been around a long time.