Reproducing an 1896 Wright Van Cleve

[That Patent Guy]

View attachment 1092944
The rear wheel has 36 spokes and the front wheel 32. We’ve seen other bikes from this era built the same way. Can anyone tell us the reason for putting more spokes on the back than on the front?

With all good wishes,
Nick Engler, Director
Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company

Hello - 30 years in mechanical engineering, a PE along the way, and now 10 years in patent practice, let me take a stab at this:
The rider's weight is borne by tension in a set of spokes mostly in the top of the arc of the rim. The spokes are too thin to support a compression load, they would buckle (Euler column) and the spokes horizontal to the hub cannot offer vertical support because they attach to the hub and the rim as pinned junctions; the spokes at the sides do not carry bending moment or shear loads. So that leaves spokes on top to share the load.
Since more of the rider's weight is borne by the rear wheel, especially in upright riding styles of the era, the rear wheel would require more spokes than the front wheel. Although the weight distribution would probably be more uneven than 9:8 front/rear, there may have been increased sales resistance to having visibly fewer spokes up front, which might become noticable at 36/28 or 36/24 spokes. (This is not the Raleigh "Chopper.")

 

[mike cates]

Have you contacted the March Field Air Museum in Riverside, California?
They have a replica Wright Bicycle Shop with a bicycle displayed.
Check my current MANY ANTIQUE PARTS FOR SALE post as I may have the hand brake lever for the bicycle you are building.
Sometime ago a museum contacted me for a lot of block chain that I sell as they were building a replica WRIGHT FLYER and that is what was used to bend the wings from fixed sprockets for steering when airborne. I later heard their project was a success!
Mike Cates, CA.