"PULLING AND PUSHING SPOKES In a wheel with cross-laced spokes, torque, unlike other loads, affects all spokes equally but in opposite ways. Half the spokes become tighter and half become looser. All spokes are involved, not just the pulling ones. Torque is equal to the tension change, times the number of spokes, times the effective flange radius. Spokes that become tighter pull, and the ones that become looser push the rim around. The pulling spokes stretch and become longer, and the pushing spokes compress and become shorter. The rim bulges inward at the pulling spokes and outward at the pushing spokes while the average tension, and therefore average rim compression, does not change."
"Rear wheels (and Front wheels with disc brakes) transfer torque from the hub to the pavement. A radially laced wheel cannot do this; in order to transmit torque, the spokes must come off of the hub flange at an angle. One group of spokes comes out at an angle opposite to the wheel rotation such that they pull the rim when you apply power to the pedals. These are called the trailing spokes. A second set of spokes, called the leading spokes, emerges from the hub at an angle in the direction of the wheel rotation, seeming to push the rim. The leading spokes are needed to balance the tension of the trailing spokes – without them the wheel would collapse."