That budget BMX you rode or inherited in the early 1980s might have had cool plastic tri-spoke wheels, but steel spokes rule.
Despite the existence of monocoque carbon-fibre wheelsets, most mountain bike wheels still use the proven steel spoke system.
A mountain bike wheel looks deceptively simple, with a collection of spokes lacing the rim to a hub. But wheel building is an exact science, with spoke choice and tensioning crucial in how durable a mountain bike wheel will be. And how responsively it will ride.
