I did a search and went through a bazillion power tap posts but couldn’t find this. If I missed it, my apologies for the oversight in advance.
I’ve got 24 spoke Bontrager wheels. I’ve got the opportunity to pick up a new Power Tap SL for about 300 dollars off retail. In the future I may want to upgrade my wheels as well and won’t necessarily know the spoke count at this time. Is there any disadvantage (i.e. like it won’t work or is structurally unsound or something) if you purchase a 28 or 32 hole count Power Tap but use a smaller spoke count?
Spoke counts have to match, unless the count is – how can I say this – uniformly usable. For example, a 32h hub can do a 16 lace. I don’t think you can much else.
And note: the PT folks will say you shouldn’t go below 24 spokes anyway.
Nope - cant do it. Previous poster is right about 16 in a 32, 18 in a 36 but alas…you are SOL on this one. If you are going to pay for a rebuild and have to buy new spokes and nipples anyway - why not just spend $40 on a new rim and have an entire wheel? At the end of the day that is what you would save, about $40.00
Buy the PTSL in a 28h config, and mate it to a Velocity Aerohead OC with some nice double butted spokes and you will be good to go. Buying for a future rim is pretty pointless, IMO.