Before I get to the wheel in the title.
About the origin of that 88mm high rim wheel I rebuilt the other day (→here)
I was being coy about it, but I'll continue that story.
First, quite a while back I built a wheel on a Sunour Superbe
large-flange 36H track hub.
A rim this tall with 36 holes is so niche
you basically can't get one unless you custom order by spoke count.
This is a carbon rim handled by a place called Mechanicho.
The owner of this wheel told me about it, so that's reliable info.
Then later I rebuilt this 24H wheel for a different job, but
the sticker on the valve hole is the same,
so I figured this was also a Mechanicho rim.
I don't often ask customers about a wheel's history,
so I really have no idea where this one came from.
Anyway,
A customer gave me an LWC 88mm carbon rim.
This one's also an unusual 32H for that rim height.
The flat pattern is UD (unidirectional),
and the woven carbon pattern is 3K finishing,
but this is the matte 3K version.
I'm not trying to say that the first 88mm is UD, the next 88mm is glossy 3K, and these three rims are identical except for finish or anything like that.
A distinctive feature is that the nipple holes are drilled quite deep.
ENVE's are extremely thin here, but they use a costly manufacturing method
(the mold already has holes drilled in it at molding = you only need molds for each spoke count lineup)
to ensure strength, so there's no problem.
In fact, despite being thin, spoke tension feels smoother than with most other carbon rims.
With other manufacturers, the method is similar enough
(drill the holes after molding the rim) so having these deep is reassuring.
I'm using a Gran Compe track hub.
A seriously annoying problem came up.
There are no spokes.
The required length is about the same as what you'd need for a small-wheel rim or less,
so with plain spokes there's no problem—you can cut them as short as needed.
With Sapim CX-RAY, the distributor stock goes down
to about 194mm, so no problem there either.
The problem is with 2.0–1.8–2.0mm butted spokes.
The customer wants black Compe,
but both DT Black Compe and Sapim Black Race have distributor stock
with a minimum length of around 260mm.
Compe and Race differ slightly in how much of the 2.0mm section is available to cut,
but they're the same in that neither can provide the length I need.
As shown in the diagram above, I could theoretically cut to 2.0–1.8mm
and thread a #15 nipple hole into the 1.8mm section.
I've actually done this a few times on my own wheels,
but when you think about how the butted section is made,
it's obviously not a proper 1.8mm diameter for threading a #15 hole,
so there's no way I'm selling it like that—too risky.
So I ended up building it with 1.8mm plain black spokes.
But still, there are no spokes.
DT's Black Champion only comes in 2.0mm at the distributor's standard stock.
They do have 1.8mm in silver, but...
The small-wheel I built the other day also uses 1.8mm plain
for the same reason (no butted spokes available), but that one was silver Champion.
Sapim's Black Race in 1.8mm plain
only shows 293mm in the size chart.
Well, if I can get that, I'm golden.
I can make any spoke length 293mm or shorter.
But I was told they don't have 293mm in stock.
I thought it was over...
But they said they had a different length.
They said "It's quite a bit off though..." and the length was
310mm. No, this is the strongest option.
With one of these, there's nothing I can't do.
It's an off-menu item not in the catalog, but I barely scraped by.
Built it.
Starting with the rear wheel.
Sapim Race 1.8mm plain 32H radial laced with JIS pattern.
I'm using JIS lacing in case the wheel needs to be flipped left-right.
This hub has a stepped fixed-gear thread on one side
and a freewheel thread on the other.
The front wheel is Sapim Race 1.8mm plain outpoke radial laced.
At this rim height, even if it were my own wheel,
radial lacing is outpoke only.
By the way, this hub is the base hub for my silly wheel,
"Nomu Lab Wheel No. 1 3.3.7".
As for the true original history of this 88mm rim, I really don't know,
but I'm writing all this in the hopes that some enthusiast out there will spill the beans.
If anyone does leave info in the comments, I won't post it here,
and honestly I'm not that interested anyway.
Actually, even if I knew I wouldn't tell you! ←Ugh, what a jerk!
Sorry for the wait! This time's, and actually the last time's too—
Please check out these images here!
↑Stop it already!
But it looks like the rim details stayed under wraps, so that's something.
About the origin of that 88mm high rim wheel I rebuilt the other day (→here)
I was being coy about it, but I'll continue that story.
First, quite a while back I built a wheel on a Sunour Superbe
large-flange 36H track hub.
A rim this tall with 36 holes is so niche
you basically can't get one unless you custom order by spoke count.
This is a carbon rim handled by a place called Mechanicho.
The owner of this wheel told me about it, so that's reliable info.
Then later I rebuilt this 24H wheel for a different job, but
the sticker on the valve hole is the same,
so I figured this was also a Mechanicho rim.
I don't often ask customers about a wheel's history,
so I really have no idea where this one came from.
Anyway,
A customer gave me an LWC 88mm carbon rim.
This one's also an unusual 32H for that rim height.
The flat pattern is UD (unidirectional),
and the woven carbon pattern is 3K finishing,
but this is the matte 3K version.
A distinctive feature is that the nipple holes are drilled quite deep.
ENVE's are extremely thin here, but they use a costly manufacturing method
(the mold already has holes drilled in it at molding = you only need molds for each spoke count lineup)
to ensure strength, so there's no problem.
In fact, despite being thin, spoke tension feels smoother than with most other carbon rims.
With other manufacturers, the method is similar enough
(drill the holes after molding the rim) so having these deep is reassuring.
I'm using a Gran Compe track hub.
A seriously annoying problem came up.
There are no spokes.
The required length is about the same as what you'd need for a small-wheel rim or less,
so with plain spokes there's no problem—you can cut them as short as needed.
With Sapim CX-RAY, the distributor stock goes down
to about 194mm, so no problem there either.
The problem is with 2.0–1.8–2.0mm butted spokes.
The customer wants black Compe,
but both DT Black Compe and Sapim Black Race have distributor stock
with a minimum length of around 260mm.
Compe and Race differ slightly in how much of the 2.0mm section is available to cut,
but they're the same in that neither can provide the length I need.
As shown in the diagram above, I could theoretically cut to 2.0–1.8mm
and thread a #15 nipple hole into the 1.8mm section.
I've actually done this a few times on my own wheels,
but when you think about how the butted section is made,
it's obviously not a proper 1.8mm diameter for threading a #15 hole,
so there's no way I'm selling it like that—too risky.
So I ended up building it with 1.8mm plain black spokes.
But still, there are no spokes.
DT's Black Champion only comes in 2.0mm at the distributor's standard stock.
They do have 1.8mm in silver, but...
The small-wheel I built the other day also uses 1.8mm plain
for the same reason (no butted spokes available), but that one was silver Champion.
Sapim's Black Race in 1.8mm plain
only shows 293mm in the size chart.
Well, if I can get that, I'm golden.
I can make any spoke length 293mm or shorter.
But I was told they don't have 293mm in stock.
I thought it was over...
But they said they had a different length.
They said "It's quite a bit off though..." and the length was
310mm. No, this is the strongest option.
With one of these, there's nothing I can't do.
It's an off-menu item not in the catalog, but I barely scraped by.
Built it.
Starting with the rear wheel.
Sapim Race 1.8mm plain 32H radial laced with JIS pattern.
I'm using JIS lacing in case the wheel needs to be flipped left-right.
This hub has a stepped fixed-gear thread on one side
and a freewheel thread on the other.
The front wheel is Sapim Race 1.8mm plain outpoke radial laced.
At this rim height, even if it were my own wheel,
radial lacing is outpoke only.
By the way, this hub is the base hub for my silly wheel,
"Nomu Lab Wheel No. 1 3.3.7".
As for the true original history of this 88mm rim, I really don't know,
but I'm writing all this in the hopes that some enthusiast out there will spill the beans.
If anyone does leave info in the comments, I won't post it here,
and honestly I'm not that interested anyway.
Actually, even if I knew I wouldn't tell you! ←Ugh, what a jerk!
Sorry for the wait! This time's, and actually the last time's too—
Please check out these images here!
↑Stop it already!
But it looks like the rim details stayed under wraps, so that's something.