Comment by wiredfool

My guess is that it's not.

From earlier discussion on this article, the wheel was modeled as an infinitely stiff rim, rather than the more mechanically accurate beam on an elastic foundation. For a first level linear elastic approximation, the spoke tension doesn't matter. The spoke tension is really going to only be an issue once you get into the non-linear effects associated with rim stability, which is strongly dependent on the rim stiffness.