realskiers

Epic -- a quick read of Sheldon Brown's page on lacing patterns, and a good look at my wheels, showed me that I have a 2-cross pattern.  Turns out that this is normal for a 28 spoke rim.  The spokes do run off the hub at pretty close to a tangent (90 deg.), much like a 3-cross on a wheel with more numerous spokes.

The bottom line from all this seems to be that spoke quality is good at 14/15 ga., and good material, but the spoke count is low at only 28.  Lacing pattern is as good as it can get at that spoke count.

All this means that if indeed it is the wheel that is flexing (highly likely), then there is nothing I can do with the existing wheels to improve them, other than optimizing spoke tension.  So for better performance, I just need to get a new one (or a set).  Or live with it until I buy a new bike. 

Thanks everyone for their input.  Always great to hear from you all and get some objective advice.

Cheers,

Svend