Another day, another wheel (and so on).
I got a 404 rear wheel in from a customer.
This is a hub from the old "46-spoke equivalent" generation.
The hubs that came next—the "zero-two equivalent" generation—
with the same silver hub shell color as this one,
can't be converted to 11S freebody.
When complete wheel manufacturers use parts from Novatech, DT, and so on in their hub or freebody sections,
you can sometimes swap them out for compatible parts.
But ZIPP uses proprietary hub design,
so if ZIPP didn't make an 11S freebody,
there's nothing to be done about it.
So we're swapping out the hub.
Since it's a 46-spoke lacing, it's radial on the non-freewheel side,
but the slack in the spokes feels less like a lacing-method thing
and more like the tension just sagged over time from use.
The spoke tension was pretty loose.
Plus the hub bearings are completely shot—grinding away.
Since we're replacing the hub, that's moot,
but if the customer had said "let's make this one work better as-is,"
it'd probably be more hassle than swapping the hub.
In its current state,
if I set the brake pad-to-rim clearance on the tight side,
brake rub would probably happen within the typical riding range for most people.
Just tightening things up would help quite a bit,
but the goal is 11S conversion, so we're changing the hub.
Built.
Before rebuild: all CX-RAY spokes.
After rebuild: mixed Comp spokes, 46-spoke lacing with cross-lacing on the non-freewheel side.
The rigidity on the non-freewheel side came out quite a bit tighter.
Per the customer's request, I went with blue aluminum nipples.
I got a 404 rear wheel in from a customer.
This is a hub from the old "46-spoke equivalent" generation.
The hubs that came next—the "zero-two equivalent" generation—
with the same silver hub shell color as this one,
can't be converted to 11S freebody.
When complete wheel manufacturers use parts from Novatech, DT, and so on in their hub or freebody sections,
you can sometimes swap them out for compatible parts.
But ZIPP uses proprietary hub design,
so if ZIPP didn't make an 11S freebody,
there's nothing to be done about it.
So we're swapping out the hub.
Since it's a 46-spoke lacing, it's radial on the non-freewheel side,
but the slack in the spokes feels less like a lacing-method thing
and more like the tension just sagged over time from use.
The spoke tension was pretty loose.
Plus the hub bearings are completely shot—grinding away.
Since we're replacing the hub, that's moot,
but if the customer had said "let's make this one work better as-is,"
it'd probably be more hassle than swapping the hub.
In its current state,
if I set the brake pad-to-rim clearance on the tight side,
brake rub would probably happen within the typical riding range for most people.
Just tightening things up would help quite a bit,
but the goal is 11S conversion, so we're changing the hub.
Built.
Before rebuild: all CX-RAY spokes.
After rebuild: mixed Comp spokes, 46-spoke lacing with cross-lacing on the non-freewheel side.
The rigidity on the non-freewheel side came out quite a bit tighter.
Per the customer's request, I went with blue aluminum nipples.