im about to get new wheels laced up, ive got a set of cd open pro’s and scored an amazing set of old school high flange sun tour hubs, so i figure i should go the distance and spend the money to get the best wheels set possible made up
long story short, one bike shop says go double butted the other says straight gauge in all reality are better for fixed wheel sets…
just to make my life harder i decided to ask your opinions so i’d be more confused
straight gauge or double butted???
Double Butted are lighter for thesame amount of spokes (being thinner in the middle). I very rearly use double butted as straight gauge is fine in most builds. Double butted for race wheels, straight for street wheels…
If you want to get ‘the best wheels set possible’ then get double butted.
Lighter, less chance of spoke breakage.
best wheelset possible?
fuck building them just buy a set of aerospokes and powdercoat them fluro 
i’d just stick to straight gauge. if anything… because they’re available in every bike shop, so replacing them will never be a hassle.
There’s all sorts of theories behind butted… whether you want to believe any of it is up to you
butted spokes build stronger wheels… and this is a quote from the man him self
sheldon brown....
"Double-buttedspokes are thicker at the ends than in the middle. The most popular diameters are 2.0/1.8/2.0 mm (also known as 14/15 gauge) and 1.8/1.6/1.8 (15/16 gauge).
Double-butted spokes do more than save weight. The thick ends make them as strong in the highly-stressed areas as straight-gauge spokes of the same thickness, but the thinner middle sections make the spokes effectively more elastic. This allows them to stretch (temporarily) more than thicker spokes.
As a result, when the wheel is subjected to sharp localized stresses, the most heavily stressed spokes can elongate enough to shift some of the stress to adjoining spokes. This is particularly desirable when the limiting factor is how much stress the rim can withstand without cracking around the spoke hole."
The also help with a straighter pull from hub to rim, meaning less stress on the spoke.
Double butted all the way.
I am a large, very fat man and I truly test the limits of bike components (saddles, seatposts, BBs and wheels in particular) because I am not gentle either. I build my own wheels and I have learned to build them strong and durable. The only rim or spoke failures I have EVER had have been with straight-gauge builds. All my DB builds are still going strong and rarely if ever need a visit to the truing stand. It’s not empirical proof but I am a firm believer. With DB spokes the relatively elastic centre section of the spoke responds to localised stresses, rather than the rim or the spoke elbow.
Some LBSs (unfortunately) will try to steer you away from DB spokes because they (a) take more time and care to build with because they tend to wind up a bit and (b) they don’t stock them.
Double butted make you far more attractive to the opposite sex - an attribute often overlooked.
SW
double butted it is then sweet, sheers guys