The Primordial 72 Spoke Wheel

[sernylan]

I figure, long ago, someone in East LA or Chicago decided their wheels would look supercool with twice as many spokes,
but no one was manufacturing the hubs or rims, so they had to make their own.

The hub flange needs to be larger diameter to support more holes, so this isn't much to imagine. But what about rims?

There's spaces to drill for 36 more spokes, except one of 'em would be inconveniently occupied by a hole for the valve. :?
Welding that shut and moving it may not be pretty, but what else can ya do? Then the existing spoke holes are offset,
alternating left and right. Only solution I see to this is drilling so that the holes are followed by another on the same side.

Unless anyone has other insights.

 

[deorman]

They could have welded the hole shut and drilled a new one. :|

 

[JLarkin]

Instead of drilling new holes 1/2 way between each spoke pair, perhaps they drilled 1/4 way. Then there would be enough offset to retain the valve hole. There are no rules to follow when you can make them up yourself.