A customer left me with a mysterious wheel that comes with a Pinarello test bike or complete bike.
I don't know if these are actually made by Pinarello or manufactured by a contract builder, but one thing is obvious at first glance—they're using aluminum spokes!
The front wheel only needed minor truing, but the rear wheel's rim was shifted toward the freewheel side. The problem was that the freewheel side tension was clearly loose. I didn't want to have to loosen the nipples on the freewheel side just to center the rim. So I did a big tensioning on the freewheel side first, deliberately shifted the center that way, and then re-tensioned the non-freewheel side to center it properly. The special nipples have a coarse pitch, so the fact that this approach worked tells you how loose the original tension was. I had the customer feel the spoke tension before and after the work, and there's a clear reduction in deflection.
These wheels are unknown to me, but somehow I figured out the limits of what I could do with them. Strange.
It's hard to see in the photo, but the braking zone has a file-textured finish, and they use special brake shoes!
The inner side of the rim is machined away except directly under the nipples, reducing weight in areas that won't affect structural strength. The rim joint opposite the valve is unique and nicely finished.
The front hub is carbon body with aluminum flanges, and the rear hub is full aluminum! They use cartridge bearings, but there's a nut-shaped part on the shaft with a cone wrench hole for play adjustment. What's clever here is that adjusting the bearing play doesn't change the locknut dimension or cause the end nut to rotate, so you can adjust the bearing play while the wheel is still mounted on the fork or frame. The bearing play does shift slightly when you tighten the quick release, but you can chase that down afterwards.
Unusually, they went with cartridge bearings that have contact-type seals. They must have weighed waterproofing and dust protection against the tiny bit of rotational friction and decided the former was more important. Whether this is Pinarello's philosophy (assuming they're contract manufactured) or the manufacturer's philosophy, I can't say.
The spokes have the Pinarello logo on them! What's really nice is that it's not a sticker—it's printed on.
What's wrapped around the rear hub is a Garmin (sports watch brand) sensor. And this rear wheel—the freewheel side spokes are radially laced! There are pros and cons to this, but most of the drawbacks are solved by the "resistance to aluminum spoke deformation," so it's kind of like a privilege of purpose-built complete wheels.
Do these wheels only come with Pinarello complete bikes? If so, that's a shame. If the manufacturer sold them under their own brand separately from Pinarello, they'd definitely be a hit!
I don't know if these are actually made by Pinarello or manufactured by a contract builder, but one thing is obvious at first glance—they're using aluminum spokes!
The front wheel only needed minor truing, but the rear wheel's rim was shifted toward the freewheel side. The problem was that the freewheel side tension was clearly loose. I didn't want to have to loosen the nipples on the freewheel side just to center the rim. So I did a big tensioning on the freewheel side first, deliberately shifted the center that way, and then re-tensioned the non-freewheel side to center it properly. The special nipples have a coarse pitch, so the fact that this approach worked tells you how loose the original tension was. I had the customer feel the spoke tension before and after the work, and there's a clear reduction in deflection.
These wheels are unknown to me, but somehow I figured out the limits of what I could do with them. Strange.
It's hard to see in the photo, but the braking zone has a file-textured finish, and they use special brake shoes!
The inner side of the rim is machined away except directly under the nipples, reducing weight in areas that won't affect structural strength. The rim joint opposite the valve is unique and nicely finished.
The front hub is carbon body with aluminum flanges, and the rear hub is full aluminum! They use cartridge bearings, but there's a nut-shaped part on the shaft with a cone wrench hole for play adjustment. What's clever here is that adjusting the bearing play doesn't change the locknut dimension or cause the end nut to rotate, so you can adjust the bearing play while the wheel is still mounted on the fork or frame. The bearing play does shift slightly when you tighten the quick release, but you can chase that down afterwards.
Unusually, they went with cartridge bearings that have contact-type seals. They must have weighed waterproofing and dust protection against the tiny bit of rotational friction and decided the former was more important. Whether this is Pinarello's philosophy (assuming they're contract manufactured) or the manufacturer's philosophy, I can't say.
The spokes have the Pinarello logo on them! What's really nice is that it's not a sticker—it's printed on.
What's wrapped around the rear hub is a Garmin (sports watch brand) sensor. And this rear wheel—the freewheel side spokes are radially laced! There are pros and cons to this, but most of the drawbacks are solved by the "resistance to aluminum spoke deformation," so it's kind of like a privilege of purpose-built complete wheels.
Do these wheels only come with Pinarello complete bikes? If so, that's a shame. If the manufacturer sold them under their own brand separately from Pinarello, they'd definitely be a hit!