Spoke shape, does it matter?

Triathlon Forum
1

I have those Cosmic carbone’s on my 650cc bike. They seem to be very aerodynamic, since the palmarez is quit impressive. They have those bladed spokes.

Now I’m building a new 700cc bike and need good wheels and I won’t put the cosmics on because they are heavy and I pulled spokes twice from the rim (rear wheel).

Does it matter what spokes are on a deep section wheel, like american classic DV 58 or Reynolds?

It seems to me irrelevant, since the frontal area is probably the same in both, but I don’t really know.

2

Check the Zipp site, on the spoke section. They claim that some spokes like Sapin CX-Ray have half the drag of round spokes. I am not quite sure what it accounts for in the total wheel drag though, my guess is a small percentage. The deep rim probably gives 90% of the aero benefits and the bladed spokes or Sapim spokes maybe the remaining half.

I would actually be interested to hear views from others on this.