Another wheel today (and so on).
A customer left a front wheel with me.
They tried to build it themselves, but the spokes were about 1mm too long,
so they asked me to disassemble it at the shop, cut the spokes,
and then rebuild it.
The hub is a Schmidt SON28 dynamo hub.
The SON series models sold through Schmidt's Japanese distributor
only come in polished silver finish,
but let's not worry about that.
The rim is a Novatec Grail rim.
The spokes are made by Pillar,
lightweight aero spokes that fit through round holes. Probably equivalent to CX-RAY.
32H laced 2-cross,
and since there's a disc brake rotor mount,
it's laced in reverse Italian pattern.
Disassembled it.
All the spokes were the same length.
The thread runout is nicely rounded, and the end surface is black in color.
So these spokes are definitely in as-cut condition.
With 32 spokes, that's plenty of sample size to determine the spoke weight ratio,
and from experience, even with 10 times the sample—320 spokes—the numbers come out almost identical.
After weighing and calculating, they came to 2.0mm with a 70.7% plain ratio.
Since CX-RAY is around 64.5%, these are slightly heavier by comparison.
Unlike CX-RAY, the cross-section is more angular,
and the length of the rounded section on the thread side is also longer than CX-RAY.
That difference probably accounts for the 6% weight variance.
The photos are out of chronological order, but the hub had some runout.
So there's a possibility—or rather, it's better not to—build it with both sides the same length.
Rather than just cutting 1mm as the customer suggested,
I measured the hub dimensions and the rim inner diameter to determine the exact lengths.
I'm not doubting the customer at all.
Since I can't afford to waste a single spoke,
and can't afford to make mistakes when cutting, I just need to be careful.
The nipples are also Pillar-made with a somewhat special shape,
though I did take some extra spares from the customer (which we didn't end up using).
After checking the measurements, I determined that the right side needed 1mm cut,
and the left side (rotor side) needed 1.5mm cut for the perfect fit,
so I cut them.
↑The cut spokes look like this at the end.
Built it.
Same as before rebuilding—2-cross reverse Italian lacing.
A customer left a front wheel with me.
They tried to build it themselves, but the spokes were about 1mm too long,
so they asked me to disassemble it at the shop, cut the spokes,
and then rebuild it.
The hub is a Schmidt SON28 dynamo hub.
only come in polished silver finish,
but let's not worry about that.
The rim is a Novatec Grail rim.
The spokes are made by Pillar,
lightweight aero spokes that fit through round holes. Probably equivalent to CX-RAY.
32H laced 2-cross,
and since there's a disc brake rotor mount,
it's laced in reverse Italian pattern.
Disassembled it.
All the spokes were the same length.
The thread runout is nicely rounded, and the end surface is black in color.
So these spokes are definitely in as-cut condition.
With 32 spokes, that's plenty of sample size to determine the spoke weight ratio,
and from experience, even with 10 times the sample—320 spokes—the numbers come out almost identical.
After weighing and calculating, they came to 2.0mm with a 70.7% plain ratio.
Since CX-RAY is around 64.5%, these are slightly heavier by comparison.
Unlike CX-RAY, the cross-section is more angular,
and the length of the rounded section on the thread side is also longer than CX-RAY.
That difference probably accounts for the 6% weight variance.
The photos are out of chronological order, but the hub had some runout.
So there's a possibility—or rather, it's better not to—build it with both sides the same length.
Rather than just cutting 1mm as the customer suggested,
I measured the hub dimensions and the rim inner diameter to determine the exact lengths.
I'm not doubting the customer at all.
Since I can't afford to waste a single spoke,
and can't afford to make mistakes when cutting, I just need to be careful.
The nipples are also Pillar-made with a somewhat special shape,
though I did take some extra spares from the customer (which we didn't end up using).
After checking the measurements, I determined that the right side needed 1mm cut,
and the left side (rotor side) needed 1.5mm cut for the perfect fit,
so I cut them.
↑The cut spokes look like this at the end.
Built it.
Same as before rebuilding—2-cross reverse Italian lacing.