The Crow's Foot lacing is a pattern that is a little different from a normal cross pattern. It is based on three spokes being used to form a set, unlike two spokes in conventional crossed lacing patterns. The Crow's Foot pattern can be used to make your bike a little unique, and builds very strong wheels. It is called a Crow's Foot because Crow's have three toes on the front of their feet. I guess it could have been called the 'Chicken's

The Crow's Foot lacing pattern was popular in the '50's, and gives a wheel the qualities of both radial and crossing patterns. The three spokes of a set have a center spoke that is radially laced, with the outer two spokes crossing each other and the radial spoke. The figure to the right is of one set of the three spokes in a Crow's Foot pattern (all of the figures in this chapter show the spokes of only one side of the wheel for clarity, looking from the outside of the hub).
 
The radial spokes give the wheel high lateral strength and the crossing spokes give the wheel torque transfer capabilities. The ride quality is stiffer than a typical crossed wheel, but not as stiff has an all radial wheel. This pattern can be used on both front and rear wheels, and it has been my perception that this lacing holds true better than standard cross lacing's. From my experience with the Crow's Foot pattern, I have come to the conclusion that it's overall strength is greater than the sum of the parts. The two crossing spokes add qualities to the radial spoke, and the radial spoke adds qualities to the crossing spokes. The sum is one very strong and dependable wheel.

For multi-speed rear wheels, I have found that a mixed lacing made with a Crow's Foot pattern on the drive side and a 2-cross on the non drive side makes for the strongest rear wheels I have ever ridden. A rear wheel made with a half Crow's Foot mixed lacing has very high drive side lateral strength and very good torque transfer characteristics. More about this lacing is discussed in the STRONG REAR WHEEL LACING chapter.
 

The Crow's Foot can be made with two basic patterns, depending on the length of the crossing spokes. One way is where all three spokes are anchored at three hub holes right next to each other, the figure above is of this style of lacing. The other way is to have the outer two spokes of a set cross with an outer spoke of the sets next door, the figure to the right is of one set of spokes laced like this.
 
The only drawback to the Crow's Foot pattern is that it has to be made with hubs and rims that have spoke holes that are a multiple of 6. This leaves common hub and rim sets with 36 or 48 spokes. For 48 spoke tandem wheels a Crow's Foot pattern would be excellent. There is more information about 48 spoke Crow' Foot patterns at the bottom of this chapter. It is possible to lace with a hybrid Crows Foot pattern on wheels that don't have spokes in multiples of 6, like a 32 spoke wheel. I will explain a 32 spoke hybrid Crow's Foot after discussing a 36 spoke Crow's Foot laced wheel. If you are working on a vintage high-wheeler, the Crow's Foot pattern could be an interesting way to lace it's wheel.

The pattern can be laced with hubs and rims with spoke holes that are a multiple of six, three for a side, but since hubs and rims are made for standard cross lacing patterns based on two spokes, they are usually available with spoke holes that are incremented by four, i.e. 28, 32, and 36. They don't make any standard 30 hole hubs and rims. If you bought blanks and had them custom drilled it would be possible to lace a 30 or 42 hole hub and rim set with a standard Crow's Foot pattern. I have heard of a five spoke set Crow's Foot pattern, this pattern could build a 40 spoke wheel. It is described in the CUSTOM LACING PATTERNS chapter.
 
The middle spoke length is determined with the formula for radial lacing. If you make each set using three holes right next to each other on the hub, the crossing spoke length is determined by using the values for a 2-cross lacing. For making sets that have the crossing spokes anchored to the second hub hole away from the radial spoke, in which case they would cross with the spoke sets next to them, you would use the values for a 3-cross lacing to determine the length. One third of the spokes are the radial length and two thirds are the crossing length. The radial spoke should not be greased like in an all radial wheel.
 
If you use the method with all of the spokes of a set right next to each other, using '2-cross' spokes, the wheels can be laced with all of the spokes either on the inside or the outside of the hub flange. It would be possible to mix them anyway you wanted, but I would recommend keeping to a pattern with all of the groups exactly alike. The wheel will be easier to build, look the best, handle the stresses the wheel sees better, and give the wheel a static balance which enhances the reliability.
 
It has been my experience that if you lace with '2-cross' spokes it is easiest with the crossing spokes coming off the same side of the flange. It is possible to alternate which side of the flange they come off of, but this results in the spoke crossing being very close to the flange which causes sharp bend angles on the spokes. These sharp bends don't cause any problems with the spokes so it can be done, if you wish. The figure below shows a 36 spoke hub and a partial section of the rim laced like this.

If you use the method where the crossing spokes cross the set's next door, using '3-cross' spokes, you can lace with the crossing spokes all on the same side of the flange or on different sides, like in the figure. If you have them all coming off the same side the first crossing will put a bend in the spoke going 'over the top' of the spoke resting against the flange. You could pre-bend the spokes to make this easier to deal with when building the wheel. If you have the spokes all anchored to the same side of the flange you should stick to a pattern of which crossing spokes go 'over the top', to keep the wheel even and balanced.
 
The radial spokes in all Crow's Foot lacings should come off the same side of the hub flange, I recommend lacing a Crow's Foot pattern with the radial spokes coming off the outside of the hub flange, this gives the wheel the highest lateral strength and makes full use of the pattern.
 
The figure below shows a 36 spoke hub and a partial rim section laced with '3-cross' crossing spokes that alternate the sides of the flange they are anchored to.

It is possible to lace a 32 spoke wheel with a hybrid Crow's Foot pattern. A 32 spoke wheel laced like this alternates a Crow's Foot pattern with a radial spoke which groups the spokes in set's of 4. This lacing pattern, one Crow's Foot one radial, could also be used with 24 spoke wheels. While it can also be possible to lace other now common wheels with a hybrid Crow's Foot pattern, I feel that anything other than 32 or 24 spoke wheels would make a lacing that would not effectively use the qualities of a Crow's Foot pattern.
 
To lace with this hybrid, four spoke Crow's Foot pattern you need to use crossing spokes that are 2-cross length. You alternate lacing a Crow's Foot set of spokes with radial spoke, half the spokes are the crossing spokes and half are radial. This results in a wheel that has much better lateral strength than a conventional crossing pattern like a pure radial wheel, and also has the torque transfer qualities of a cross laced wheel. The best of both worlds, so to speak. I have used a lacing like this on my 32 spoke road bike rear wheel and found it to have the best riding qualities of any 32 spoke wheel I have ridden. Very high lateral strength and rock solid power transfer. The figure below shows a 32 spoke hub and partial rim laced with this hybrid pattern.

48 spoke wheels can be laced with the Crow's Foot pattern just like the 36 spoke wheels discussed above. A '2-cross' Crow's Foot would not be very practical, however, for the SA on 48 spoke hubs is rather small, 15 degrees. While it certainly would work, I feel that a 48 spoke wheel laced like this ('2-cross' crossing spokes) would not utilize a Crow's Foot lacing to it's full potential. A '3-cross' pattern would make for a very nice looking wheel that will also have great characteristics. Below is a figure of a 48 spoke '3-cross' Crow's Foot wheel.

A very interesting Crow's Foot pattern, that isn't practical on 36 spoke wheels, can be built with a 48 spoke wheel. This is a'5-cross' Crow's Foot lacing shown below.

A 48 spoke '5-cross' Crow's Foot places the crossing spokes very far out on the hub. One can see from the figure that the crossing spokes give each Crow's Foot group a very wide placement on the hub. This pattern probably makes the utmost use of a Crow's Foot lacing qualities, very strong lateral strength, very good torque transfer, excellent reliability, and a good ride. The crossing spokes in a '5-cross' pattern are the length you would use for a standard 5-cross lacing for the wheel.
 
The way the wheel in the above figure is laced, one crossing spoke in each group crosses over a radial spoke right near it's head end. Since all hubs and rims are different, it would be hard to say if this could cause a problem. The situation where this could cause problems would be if the crossing spoke crossed the radial spoke right on top of it's bend, which would result in the crossing spoke not having a stable anchor point. As long as this crosssing is over the main part of the radial spoke, spokes are flexible enough to handle this situation without suffering any consequences.
 
If you lace a wheel like the above figure shows, you could pre-bend the crossing spokes that go over the radial spokes at the point where the spokes touch. A slight bend in the spokes will keep them from moving out of position during the building of the wheel, and probably make the build easier.
 
Another way you could lace a wheel like this would be so the radial spokes are anchored on the outside of the flange as recommended (heads in), and the crossing spokes are anchored on the inside of the flange (heads out). While this would still place a contact point close to the head end of the crossing spokes, the angle of the cross would make a pre-bend not really necessary. The '5-cross' lacing would probably not work well if you lace all of the spokes on the same side of the flange.