The wheelbuilding thread

Wheels, Tires, Tubes, Tubeless, Tubs, Spokes, Hookless, Hubs, and more!

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The spirit of this board is to compile and organize wheels and tires related discussions.

If a new wheel tech is released, (say for example, TPU tubes, a brand new tire, or a new rim standard), feel free to start the discussion in the popular "Road". Your topic will eventually be moved here!
thisisatest
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by thisisatest

at your size, i'd shy away from the relatively elastic aerolites and cx-rays unless you are going with 32 spokes. i'd also opt for the new alpha400 as a small precaution.
round and bladed spokes are the same stiffness, apples to apples. bladed spokes have a bit longer fatigue life due to essentially being forged twice. bladed spokes are also easier to control from wind-up near the max tension.

eric
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by eric

At 90kg you should not use a light flexy rim like the Stans 340. Pick something stiffer, like a mild "aero" rim of 27-30mm depth. Or a wide rim (but then you may want a wide rim on the front to match).

A powertap wheel should be made durable. The PT hub is already heavy so you're not making a light wheel out of it. And if it's your only power meter you will want to use it all the time, so it needs to be strong.

Bladed spokes wind up just as much as the round spokes they're made from. It's just easier to see the wind up with the bladed spokes.

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prendrefeu
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by prendrefeu

Hi guys,

One quick question:

Which would be a stronger wheel for CX-training purposes (fire-roads, semi-technical trails) with the rim, hub, nipple and spokes being the same between the two options?
-Rear Hub 24h with 16 DS 8NDS drilling, lacing would be 2xDS 1xNDS
-Rear Hub 28h ... 2x DS, 2x NDS

Thanks.
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bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

The later 28 spoke build would be stiffer as there are more spokes especially more NDS spokes. Triplet laing is good for evening tensions which is a useful trick on rims which cannot handle high tensions and for campag 11 speed compatabile hubs.

Of course if you use a 30mm deep V rim then the 24 spoke rear maybe sufficent (you are quite light from previous posts I think) in which the stiffness lost from less spokes will be made up by the extra stiffness of the rim.

Drocspoke. If you take Eric's suggestion of a 30mm v rim such as Kinlin XR-300, Velocity Deep V or the DT Swiss RR585 then CX-ray spokes would be fine especially with the RR585. You should also be able to get away with a 28 spoke rear wheel with a stiff V rim (RR585 is the stiffest I believe). I have a couple hanging on the rim rack and they do feel stiff.

For lower profile rims there is the Hplus sons Archetype (it 23mm wide too, 25mm deepand 450g) or the Velocity A23 (23mm wide, 19mm deep and 440g). The A23's I have built with 28F and 32R with race spokes and that more than stiff enough for a rider of your weight. So thinner CX-rays could be used and adaquate siffness would still be present. The archtype rims I think would be best on paper with CX-rays. They also look fantastic in silver

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prendrefeu
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by prendrefeu

Thanks bm0p700f.
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thprice
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by thprice

Having just built a wheelset using Tune Mig 70 / Mag 170 hubs, advise is sought on how they should be best maintained, e.g. what and how often to lube/grease, etc.
I typically ride 1000 km per month on sealed roads, sometimes wet.

thanks

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MajorMantra
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by MajorMantra

A question about nipples...

On one of my wheelsets (1.5 years old) one of the alu nipples recently failed spontaneously, by fracturing. I replaced it but when I attempted to true the wheel, another failed, and then another. This wheel has been ridden in rain and through the winter, so I guess corrosion is likely the issue.

My question: is this problem a given for year round use? Should I just rebuild with brass nipples because alu isn't suitable?

1415chris
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by 1415chris

I would say, typical for alu nipples ridden in such conditions and the period (more/less).
My ones started cracking in the 3-rd season of use. But I was trying to avoid wet.
Recently rebuilt this wheel with the alu nipples again. I don't mind doing it every 3 years, ish :)
Last edited by 1415chris on Sun Oct 07, 2012 9:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.

eric
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by eric

I've yet to have an alu nipple break, even on the wheels that are on my rain bike.

But if I had a wheel that had nipples breaking like you describe, I'd replace them with brass.

petromyzon
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by petromyzon

Quite excited to see this new asymmetrical Velocity A23 with tubeless compatible rim bed.... Should be good for 11 speed builds. Velocity and Stans really seem to support wheel builders with helpful releases.

http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/10/07/int ... m-profile/

KvnP
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by KvnP

Dinged my rear alpha 340 on the brake track. Replace or can I bend it back to place ?
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bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

The OC A23 is good news but not essential for some 11 speed builds as A23 happily takes the tensions required for a stable wheel build. Did one recently with a Miche hub but these have decent flange spacings for an 11 speed compatible hub.

Still good news, I will be using this new rim.

eric
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by eric

KvnP- try bending it. If it cracks then you'll need to replace it. If it doesn't crack right away you'll want to keep an eye on it. Pad the jaws of your pliers so you don't gouge the rim.


Here's a general wheel building question- when radial lacing front wheels, do you put the heads in or out? I did a wheel on a BHS UL66 hub heads out, because it looks better. However after some 4-5000 miles the spokes started breaking at the elbows. It looks like the spoke holes have a larger countersink on the outside than on the inside. With heads out the spoke heads sit flush to the flange. Heads in and they're 1-2mm proud of the flange. I think lacing heads out on these hubs does not provide enough support to the spoke elbow, hence the breakage.

Does that sound right? I'm building a new set now and doing them front heads in. It's kind of ugly and with the wide SLF71 hub the spokes are WAY out there, but I want these to be sturdy wheels.

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Zen Cyclery
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by Zen Cyclery

KvnP wrote:Dinged my rear alpha 340 on the brake track. Replace or can I bend it back to place ?


Well, maybe try to bend it back. I doubt your going to be able to eliminate pulsing though. Worst case, if bending it back doesn't work, you can always swap over to a new hoop.

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Zen Cyclery
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by Zen Cyclery

eric wrote:KvnP- try bending it. If it cracks then you'll need to replace it. If it doesn't crack right away you'll want to keep an eye on it. Pad the jaws of your pliers so you don't gouge the rim.


Here's a general wheel building question- when radial lacing front wheels, do you put the heads in or out? I did a wheel on a BHS UL66 hub heads out, because it looks better. However after some 4-5000 miles the spokes started breaking at the elbows. It looks like the spoke holes have a larger countersink on the outside than on the inside. With heads out the spoke heads sit flush to the flange. Heads in and they're 1-2mm proud of the flange. I think lacing heads out on these hubs does not provide enough support to the spoke elbow, hence the breakage.

Does that sound right? I'm building a new set now and doing them front heads in. It's kind of ugly and with the wide SLF71 hub the spokes are WAY out there, but I want these to be sturdy wheels.


Only certain hubs are can be laced radially in a heads in fashion. It puts more stress on the hub flange to go heads in which is why some manufacturers do not allow for it under their warranty terms. I've never worked with the hub that your on, but it sounds like yours may not be compatible with heads in.
On paper, heads in is going to be stiffer than heads out because you are effectively moving the flange outboard from center just a tad. For all practical purposes though, I would just do the next build heads out.

by Weenie


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