What are the different lace patterns and there benefits?
There are primarily five different lace patterns, which are radial, 1cross, 2cross, 3cross and 4cross. Generally on a 36 hole wheel 3cross is strongest and on a 48 hole wheel 4 cross is strongest. If you wanted to save some weight you could run a less number cross pattern like a 1cross or 2cross. Some wheels are even built with a radial lace also known as a 0cross. The most common application for a radial lace wheel is a front race wheel where the rider is either very light or very smooth. The reason a 1cross or radial wheel weighs less than a 3cross or 4cross wheel is the spoke length. For instance, if a 48 hole wheel laced 4cross has a 185mm spoke length then that same wheel would use 172mm spoke length if it were laced radial. That is a difference of 13mm per spoke, which is equivalent to removing 3.4 185mm spokes.
