Interlacing Brompton spokes - who does/doesn't?

[rogerzilla]

Brompton say no.  Given the woeful propensity of their wheels to break spokes, I have always ignored the advice and interlaced.  No wheel troubles.  Anyone else?

[Pickled Onion]

I've never broken any spokes on a Brompton, but I've had them unwind themselves on wheels as supplied. On rebuild I asked for lacing and they were fine thereafter.

Having said that, the first Brompton I had was from a guy who didn't trust machine built wheels and simply loosened and retensioned the supplied wheels and they were good over many tens of thousands of km.

[Kim]

My original rear wheel was replaced with a Kinetics 8-speed kit from new.  That was incorrectly dished, so I re-trued it.  I stress-relieved and re-tensioned the factory front wheel while I was at it, but didn't change the lacing.  So far no problems (both wheels are 1x).

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I’ve built Brompton wheels (and 16” Moulton wheels) both ways with no discernible effect on durability. Careful building/ truing is worth more than the spoke pattern/ lacing.

[nuttycyclist]

I'll have to check my wheels for spoke pattern.   The bike is second hand and I have abused it.  I believe that it was factory mint when I bought it.

The trolley wheels are beyond repair, the rear light is shattered from where Mrs Nutty tried to fit it in the car footwell next to a coolbox and hit the driver's seat runner, the paintwork is scratched because of taking it on trains, the brakes don't work due to neglect.

Wheels are fine though 

[SA_SA_SA_SA]

From the old brompton faq at **:

VELODROOM -- urban mobility concepts, Jul 2000:
One little tip for the slightly heavier Bromtponist: Should you still experience problems due to spoke stress even after tightening the original wheel, have your rear wheel rebuilt with butted (2.34-2.00mm) stainless Sapim Strong spokes crossed only once (because of the better spoke angle at the rim entry). These spokes are not available in the right length, but can be cut to size with... Yes, the above mentioned machine (We use a Hozan, cheap and cheerful and really essential for any Brompton dealer). We did such a wheel for our heaviest customer (roughly 260lbs) and there haven't been any problems in over a year of harsh daily abuse. Also make sure to have washers (M2.5) put under the spoke heads to emulate a thicker hub flange.

My rear wheel that I had built/finished with a 2nd hand non-nig AW has one cross inspired above but I am not that heavy....
**http://www.boox.net/topics/bicycles/external/stein.dommel.be/brompton/chapters/Wheels.html#broken_spokes

[rogerzilla]

The bit about spoke washers would be for AW hubs in steel shells, I guess.

[SA_SA_SA_SA]

The bit about spoke washers would be for AW hubs in steel shells, I guess.

Yes, I think that post probably dates from when all Brompton Sturmey hubs were in steel cans.