[sanjuro]

There is some conjecture whether you should lace the spokes so that the pulling spokes lie on the flange (so the heads are in). Then the pulling spoke has more support by sitting on the flange.

I personally do not think it matters, but I was thinking about disc brake rear wheels. Since the right (drive) side is pulling "forward", and the left (rotor) side is pulling "backward", would it be a good idea to put the right side pulling spokes on the outside and the left side trailing spokes on the outside as well?

Is that called asymmetric lacing?

 

[Internal14]

Almost 20 yrs of wheel building, I've always done it so the pulling spoke is on the outside and the static is on the inside.
And with Disc hubs I swap lacing on the disc side.
Always seems to work for me and my customers.
There have been a few exceptions to the rule, like when I'm building a customers old cool hub(ie Phil or Campy) and it's been laced a certain way for years and years and there is pretty heavy scarring on the flange because of it, I'll copy the pattern as to not cause anymore stress points.

My reasoning for the tension spokes to be on the outside is the simple "wider traingle base" argument.

 

[sanjuro]

Almost 20 yrs of wheel building, I've always done it so the pulling spoke is on the outside and the static is on the inside.
And with Disc hubs I swap lacing on the disc side.
Always seems to work for me and my customers.
There have been a few exceptions to the rule, like when I'm building a customers old cool hub(ie Phil or Campy) and it's been laced a certain way for years and years and there is pretty heavy scarring on the flange because of it, I'll copy the pattern as to not cause anymore stress points.

My reasoning for the tension spokes to be on the outside is the simple "wider traingle base" argument.

So you do switch the pulling spokes on each flange? That is how I was planning on building my rear wheel.

 

[Zookster]

Here is what you need

http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

Probably some of the best information out there on wheelbuilding.

Here is some info on this from Sheldon's web site

Which Side of the Flange?
Derailer rear wheels should be laced with the trailing spokes running up along the inside of the flange. There are three reasons for this:

The spokes are bent around each other at the outermost crossing. Under drive torque, especially in low gear, the trailing spokes straighten out and the leading spokes bend even more. If the wheel is laced with the trailing spokes on the outside of the flange, the crossing gets pulled outward toward the derailer cage, and in some cases will actually hit against the derailer only under load.

If the chain should overshoot the inner sprocket due to the derailer being mis-adjusted or bent, it is likely to get more seriously jammed between the spokes and the freewheel if the spokes slant so as to wedge the chain inward under load.*

If the chain should overshoot the inner sprocket, it may damage and weaken the spokes it rubs against. Since the trailing spokes are more highly stressed than the leading spokes, it is better to protect them from this type of damage by keeping them inboard.

It really doesn't matter which way you go on the left side, but if you have all the trailing spokes face inward it makes lacing the wheel a bit easier.
* In the case of fixed-gear or coaster-brake wheels, it is better to lace the opposite way, because a derailed chain is more likely to get jammed by backpedaling in these cases.