The wheelbuilding thread

[jooo]

The A23 may be narrow compared to newer XC rims, but really, it's still as wide as many older MTB rims from Mavic, DT, Sun, WTB etc.

Big volume is a great idea for off-road, but if you're keen on running a smaller tyre, a rim that width will work just fine.

As to Titanium spokes, were you thinking of using Marwi or something like that? They seem like a far more affordable option than Pillar and relatively easy to get a hold of through BMX orientated bike shops.

[stella-azzurra]

Built my ArchTek carbon 20mm rims I purchased here with group by after what 4 years

Anyhow here is what I built:

20mm ArchTek carbon rims
Dati hubs 20/24
Sapim Laser spokes
Sapim brass nipples
Nipple washers

The wheels have a 2x crossing pattern on the front wheel and on the back drive and non drive side.
I chose 2x as they make a stiffer wheel.

The weight of the wheels is around 1050gr.
Total cost is 407$ plus my time to build them.

Also used BBB brake pads for carbon rims 13$ for a set of 4.

[bm0p700f]

I am going to have try a low profile carbon rim build to see how stiff it will be. Any comparisions to give me an idea?

[stella-azzurra]

1. The low profile rim I built use a 2x crossing pattern for added stiffness on both wheels
2. I used nipple washers to set a slightly higher tension on the drive side of the rear wheel
3. Each spoke has nipple washers on both wheels.
4. I used a bit of grease on the threads of the spokes so they would be easier to tension and you would not run into a situation of turning the spoke to achieve tension.

[stl516]

If you want to be anal and you want to build a good wheel, you must have a decent truing stand(doesn't have to be super expensive, but you should try to get one that is stiff)

Which is stiff/not stiff? Is (in US) cheapestMinoura/Nashbar/Performance bike brand OK?

nipple driver that has an adjustable depth pin

What brand/model do you use?

[Lozza]

Hi
Just before I go ahead and order parts I just need got get final advice.

I'm looking at building a rear wheel of this setup:

Rear Hub - Dura Ace 9000 24 hole
Rim - Stans No Tube Alpha 3400 ZTR
Spokes - Sapim CX Ray bladed aero spokes
X2 weave on both sides

Basically just like this.... http://www.moonglu.com/products/handbui ... alpha-rims

I weigh 78kg

I'm after a good light, durable wheel for climbing / Sunday club runs.
I'm just torn between 24 or 28 holes... What's best?

Another question... Are the holes on the rear hub even on both nds and ds? 12 on each?

Any words of wisdom would be very helpful
Thanks

[eric]

If you want durable 28h would be better with that light a rim.

[bikerjulio]

My experience with those rims was not that great - poor quality joints leading to a high spot, and noticeable under braking as well. But others have been fine with them, so maybe that was just bad luck.

You don't say if you intend to run these tubed or tubeless. Be aware that tubed tires sit differently in these rims and there a long thread here dealing with some brands of tires blowing off.

That being said I have run Michelin PR3's on them with no issues.

Since building the Stans wheels I have also built up a Pacenti set and a H plus Son Archetype set. Both of which I would choose over the Stans.

[pushstart]

Rear Hub - Dura Ace 9000 24 hole
Rim - Stans No Tube Alpha 3400 ZTR
Spokes - Sapim CX Ray bladed aero spokes
X2 weave on both sides

What about the new, more aero Grail rim instead? They don't quantify the aerodynamics, but aero (almost) always wins over weight, so they are likely faster ... marginally.

Or do the shallow 340 (or 400) rims but use round spokes

I would second the vote for 28h; 78kg is not exactly light. I would also probably do the Alpha 400 instead.

Edit: I also would put in a good vote for the H+ Son Archetypes. They are a little heavier (similar to Grail, but not especially aero AFAIK), but really nice rims. I have ~12k miles on a set I laced to disc-brake hubs for the commuter.

[thprice]

I would second the vote for 28h; 78kg is not exactly light. I would also probably do the Alpha 400 instead.

I am ~80kg ... I can kill a 28h Alpha 340 rear within ~12 mths, but 28h Alpha 400 ... so far so good since Jan.. fingers crossed.
You will not notice the extra 70 grams... you will notice when the 24h 340 dies on you.

Edit: But for the front wheel I have found 24h Alpha 340 fine .. no issues in over 2 years (have I just given it the kiss of death?)

[HillRPete]

Is there any easy way (app/table) to get the rim ERD from the spoke length? I have a set of radially spoked old alu tubular front wheels that I'd like to rebuild into a front/rear set with other hubs.

Or do i need to grab the calipers, measure the hub dimension and spoke length, and get going with a sheet of paper? As said I have the radial spoke length, so it wouldn't be all that hard.

[jekyll man]

its probably easier to either measure the erd itself or find it somewhere.

What rims are they? there's a big list in the damon rinard spoccalc

[HillRPete]

They are older FiR rims, Kelme Team leftover. Not sure they were available, or what the model is. Should probably just go measure it, thanks.

[Derf]

So I'm building up a 24H Powertap G3 hub to this rim: http://www.ebay.com/itm/231032302671

Please be my sanity check.

Using 2 283mm spokes threaded onto 12mm Sapim nipples (flush to the bottom of the screwdriver flat), I measured the head-to-head (center-to-center) overlap at 40mm. Taking that, I get an ERD of 526 (283*2-40), but spokes are measured to the inside of the J hook, so that measurement should really be 528mm. I measured this in multiple spoke hole pairs around the rim, and it remained consistent (score!).

Plan is to build this up 2x/2x and use nipple washers on the DS as a safeguard. From spocalc, I get:
NDS = 252.5 mm -- Plan on using CX-Ray 252mm (Almost a "free" upgrade since it pushes me over to free shipping)
DS = 250.3 + 0.7 = 251 mm -- Plan on using Sapim Race 250mm--or go 252?

Aiming for 120kgf DS, which puts me around 55 NDS. Not the greatest NDS tension, but I'm also pretty kind to wheels.

[eric]

I cut the j bends off two spokes (@ 250mm) so there is no ambiguity about where to measure.

If using alloy nipples I'd go with the longer spokes on the DS.