custom wheels: 866g AC Magnesium clinchers, Fred Johnson etc

[ubergoober]

Next is another set of FJ mag clinchers.. since the rims are already done I feel like I might as well build them up. I have a 1-of a kind rear hub, and just saw that hot-lookin' silver Extralite straight pull to use in front.

[Miller]

With that said, here is an exception: the hubs out of a 1990s Campagnolo Electron wheelset. Not that they are anything that great (they are total boat anchors at 129/390g) but I think they are gorgeous and kinda cool relics of the Pantani era.

So heavy; who knew... not me at the time. The hubs looked amazing. Those wheels and their cheaper Proton stablemates were influential and surprising wheels when they came out in the late 90s. I had a pair of Protons for a while, lovely wheels but prone to breaking spokes. Later Campag wheels became better at not doing that.

I trust your post count now allows you to sell on your spare wheels etc on this fine forum.

[ubergoober]

Hub show and tell, just for fun:



1. Rare '80s Record 28h high-low, tuned with ti axle, ceramic bearing balls, and custom alloy locknuts - 191g.
2. Alchemy ORC prototype (for upcoming build on FJ mag clincher).
3. Campag Electron hub. Same era and approximate weight as Marco Pantani.
4. Tune MAG170 polished. This went on the 1039g FJ mag clincher set.

[ergott]

I have a silver Alchemy front hub here. Never been built up, 28 hole. Let me know if interested.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[ubergoober]

I have a silver Alchemy front hub here. Never been built up, 28 hole. Let me know if interested.

thanks for the offer.. I am good on those for now.

[ubergoober]

A set built with all stuff I had laying around.. older (pre-dimple) Zipp 404 clincher rims painted red, built with powdercoated CX Rays on Alchemy ELF/ORC hubs at 1658g.

The rear hub went from black 32h to silver 24h triplet.. so here's more of the crazy being had. These flanges with NDS elbows out are actually pretty wide for 2:1 lacing, which I think is a requirement to pull it off.

[synthesis]

You could try this on your next build

[ubergoober]

You could try this on your next build

Crow's foot.. hey it's something different.

For me I am a little sketched out about the flanges breaking especially with those radial spokes pulling on the drive side flange. And then Ritchey and others that built their hub around this design, why not just move the flange out in the first place? Sorta like first make the problem then make the cure.

[synthesis]

So the old Zipp where 24 hole, nice to know. Looks better with crossing spokes on DS. Do you find that they are more stiff than factory?

[godzuki26]

Ubergoober,

I have a set of the American Classic 28x32 Clincher wheelset with the white and blue finish. I really liked what you did with your 866g wheelset. I would like to do something similar which is first sanding off the hideous white paint and polishing it to a shiny finish like you did. I will then use different hubs and spokes to finish the build. I cannot find much information on Magnesium rims other than it is highly corrosive. I also read somewhere that AC uses the paint finish as a protective seal. Is the polish on your 866g wheelset enough protection or are you using some other protective layer? If there is anything more to know about the version I have? I want to throw these restored wheels on a 2008 Litespeed Ghisallo build I am working on which will be a logo less mostly metal build.

Thanks

[ubergoober]

Ubergoober,

I have a set of the American Classic 28x32 Clincher wheelset with the white and blue finish. I really liked what you did with your 866g wheelset. I would like to do something similar which is first sanding off the hideous white paint and polishing it to a shiny finish like you did. I will then use different hubs and spokes to finish the build. I cannot find much information on Magnesium rims other than it is highly corrosive. I also read somewhere that AC uses the paint finish as a protective seal. Is the polish on your 866g wheelset enough protection or are you using some other protective layer? If there is anything more to know about the version I have? I want to throw these restored wheels on a 2008 Litespeed Ghisallo build I am working on which will be a logo less mostly metal build.

Super cool! Keep us posted.

A couple pieces of advice come to mind: Have you ridden the wheels? If not I would put a couple hundred miles on them first just to know you have the "good ones". Also 28x32h sounds heavy but it may be the best build for AC mags.. they really deserve to be used a lot and enjoyed for that magic ride quality, whereas something uber-WW like a 16x28h build will banish them to hillclimb specialty wheels. I have taken my black 1267g powertap/cx ray set up pikes peak, mt evans, and all over famous cols in the Alps and they have won me over as all time favorites. My crappy steel Ritchey Breakaway is sub 16lbs with those which is good enough for the likes of me. I have to resist the urge to train on them since they would be so hard to replace.

As far as stripping paint off Mg that is beyond my pay grade. I paid a polishing buddy to go at mine with a power wheel and he spent a long time taking off the black finish. You can see the neglected look on Donald's bike where it just gets dull gray.. also 60s race cars with cast mag Campagnolo wheels often have that look. If you want to keep the bright finish it may be 1-2x a month that you hit it with polishing compound and wipe it off (a quick minute or 2 for the job). Rain or sweat would be the enemy of your nice finish so that would take work to bring it back.

Anyway good luck

[godzuki26]

Thanks for the advice

I actually stumbled upon your thread and immediately went on Ebay to see if I could find any model of AC Magnesium wheels. To my luck, there was one set on Ebay and I grabbed it. Thus, I have not ridden these wheels yet and will follow your advice on riding them first. The color scheme tells me it is a 2008-2009 model.

I plan on going Uber light on this build as the Litespeed I am building will be a 1x10 climbing bike. I have the old Extralite HyberClinch SP wheelset that came with the Alpha 340 Rims. I have had some bad luck with the Stan's Rim (exploding on me once and tire coming off rim during ride) so I plan to tear down the rear wheel and reuse the Extralite 28H rear hub for this build. I also have a 16H XXLight carbon front hub (30 grams) that I will use for the front.

I will go ahead and DIY on the paint removal and polishing. I just remember a long time ago I had an Ellsworth Epiphany mountain bike with a magnesium rocker that began to have small pits after several months. It eventually snapped on me. If this happened to a rim, I think I will be in some trouble. Wish me luck. I will keep you posted

[ubergoober]

Is that a heard of elephants in the distance? Or is it..?


Just for fun, here are some Shamal clinchers, all 1900g of them. Do they even allow 10 kilo bikes on this forum??

[ubergoober]

Last triplet set -- Ligero V1 hub (White Industries made) 1x/3x on Kinlin 380 rear. Front is 18h Alchemy on Kinlin 300 with red CX Rays. With total weight of 1548g. Narrow rims are coming back!







The rear hub is more or less an H3 but it can be modernized with a T11 free hub with minor modifications. Oh, and I was kidding about narrow rims coming back.

[godzuki26]

@Ubergoober I received the AC Magnesium wheelset and they ride perfectly fine. I am going to break down the wheelset and rebuild them using lighter parts as mentioned earlier. On your 866g wheelset, what kind of lacing pattern did you use for the front? M5 says on their website that you cannot use radial lacing on their flanged hubs. Have you had any issues with your front wheel? I really like their 33gram claimed weight. Lighter than my XXLight front hub by 5 grams I appreciate your help.