This is a follow-up to my recent post about American Classic's slitted hub design (→here).
I stated that those hubs were limited to JIS or Italian lacing, but
I received a comment pointing out that the correct interpretation was
"the slits restrict which direction the spokes can be laced
(porcupine direction / reverse-porcupine direction)"
I apologize for misunderstanding the intent of that comment.
Also, regarding the passage about "mid" lacing and the irritation
that couldn't quite be hidden in my writing—
there are other circumstances involved, and it was not directed at
the person who made that comment.
If that caused any offense, I sincerely apologize.
Since I don't delete posts, I'll add cross-links between this and the original article
and note the correction on the original post.
What follows is actual verification.
A customer's wheel that they wanted respoked,
so I'm using it for this test.
A "mid" lacing, 28H, standard rim treatment, left-drop, 4×4 Italian laced wheel.
I'm about to respoke this from Italian lacing to JIS lacing,
but since it's 4×4 to 4×4,
the "4×4 lacing" detail doesn't really matter.
Since I'm not making it different left-to-right, the "28H" is also unnecessary information.
Also, I won't touch any of the spokes or nipples on the freewheel side.
Since the freewheel-side spokes remain unmoved, the "standard rim treatment" status
won't change, so that's unnecessary information too.
I'm focusing only on the "left-drop Italian lacing."
Before respooking—this is Italian laced.
Since I'm not touching the freewheel side, I don't need to mark those spokes,
but I've marked in blue the slits where spokes cannot be laced.
I've marked the non-freewheel side the same way in blue.
Currently, spokes on both flanges are not laced in the slit direction.
I've marked the inpoke holes in red.
Now I'm going to disassemble only the non-freewheel side
and convert the Italian lacing to JIS lacing.
As I did before, "mid" lacing would become "center" lacing.
So on the non-freewheel side only, I'm switching the inpokes and outpokes
(in other words, converting left-drop to right-drop)
and then doing JIS lacing.
I had a misconception about the point marked in red.
I've converted to right-drop while doing JIS lacing.
What was originally an inpoke hole is now an outpoke, and it's JIS laced.
And here's what I think is important—it maintains "mid" lacing.
To reiterate: I haven't touched the freewheel-side spokes and nipples; they're in the same position.
I believe what you were articulating in your comment was precisely this—am I right?
Which means my earlier statement that wheels with slitted hubs are
limited to JIS or Italian lacing was wrong.
The correct way to express it (though there are other phrasings) is
"the direction spokes can be laced is restricted."
Thank you for the correction.
And to the person who left a different comment that I haven't addressed here at all:
You're absolutely right, but I can't write about it here.
It's trade secret stuff. Pure and simple.
While I appear to be pontificating, the truth is
I'm the one actually learning here.
There may not be another bike shop anywhere
that gets comments this valuable.
Finally. There's someone else who might take issue with this verification,
but they're a competitor, so I won't bother smoothing things over. Listen, "center" lacing is not the answer.
I stated that those hubs were limited to JIS or Italian lacing, but
I received a comment pointing out that the correct interpretation was
"the slits restrict which direction the spokes can be laced
(porcupine direction / reverse-porcupine direction)"
I apologize for misunderstanding the intent of that comment.
Also, regarding the passage about "mid" lacing and the irritation
that couldn't quite be hidden in my writing—
there are other circumstances involved, and it was not directed at
the person who made that comment.
If that caused any offense, I sincerely apologize.
Since I don't delete posts, I'll add cross-links between this and the original article
and note the correction on the original post.
What follows is actual verification.
A customer's wheel that they wanted respoked,
so I'm using it for this test.
A "mid" lacing, 28H, standard rim treatment, left-drop, 4×4 Italian laced wheel.
I'm about to respoke this from Italian lacing to JIS lacing,
but since it's 4×4 to 4×4,
the "4×4 lacing" detail doesn't really matter.
Since I'm not making it different left-to-right, the "28H" is also unnecessary information.
Also, I won't touch any of the spokes or nipples on the freewheel side.
Since the freewheel-side spokes remain unmoved, the "standard rim treatment" status
won't change, so that's unnecessary information too.
I'm focusing only on the "left-drop Italian lacing."
Before respooking—this is Italian laced.
Since I'm not touching the freewheel side, I don't need to mark those spokes,
but I've marked in blue the slits where spokes cannot be laced.
I've marked the non-freewheel side the same way in blue.
Currently, spokes on both flanges are not laced in the slit direction.
I've marked the inpoke holes in red.
Now I'm going to disassemble only the non-freewheel side
and convert the Italian lacing to JIS lacing.
As I did before, "mid" lacing would become "center" lacing.
So on the non-freewheel side only, I'm switching the inpokes and outpokes
(in other words, converting left-drop to right-drop)
and then doing JIS lacing.
I had a misconception about the point marked in red.
I've converted to right-drop while doing JIS lacing.
What was originally an inpoke hole is now an outpoke, and it's JIS laced.
And here's what I think is important—it maintains "mid" lacing.
To reiterate: I haven't touched the freewheel-side spokes and nipples; they're in the same position.
I believe what you were articulating in your comment was precisely this—am I right?
Which means my earlier statement that wheels with slitted hubs are
limited to JIS or Italian lacing was wrong.
The correct way to express it (though there are other phrasings) is
"the direction spokes can be laced is restricted."
Thank you for the correction.
And to the person who left a different comment that I haven't addressed here at all:
You're absolutely right, but I can't write about it here.
It's trade secret stuff. Pure and simple.
While I appear to be pontificating, the truth is
I'm the one actually learning here.
There may not be another bike shop anywhere
that gets comments this valuable.
Finally. There's someone else who might take issue with this verification,
but they're a competitor, so I won't bother smoothing things over. Listen, "center" lacing is not the answer.