A customer brought in a wheel built with XR200 rims for service.
Front wheel 20H, rear wheel 24H, all spokes are CX-RAY.
I heard about the builder from the customer.
Since they seem to be reading this blog, they'll probably see this too.
The rear wheel had runout that needed correcting,
and sure enough, there was fine lateral runout in both directions.
The front wheel had about a sheet of paper's worth of centering deviation.
With some centering gauges it would be judged as "centered,"
so there's no real issue.
There was some radial runout on the rear wheel, but that's unavoidable given the wheel's construction.
The XR200 is a high-precision rim that can dial in radial runout quite well,
but with this rear wheel being a 2:1 spoke pattern, the compromise point for radial runout inevitably goes down.
Compared to a similar configuration (steel spokes, 2:1 lacing) like a Racing 3 in typical off-the-shelf condition, it's far better.
With this amount of radial runout, it's far less than the deformation of the tire's contact patch,
so you won't feel any abnormality while riding.
The rear hub is a six-pawl freehub, and it's a sibling to the Rolf hub (unclear which is the older sibling).
The flange holes are designed for 2:1 spoke patterns.
It's built 2:1 with a 60-degree lacing pattern, but the spoke tension difference between sides goes beyond 100:100, with the non-drive side slightly higher
(at minimum, the minimum tension on the drive side is less than the maximum on the non-drive side),
so a 40-degree lacing might be better, but that's a matter of preference.
Apologizing for being presumptuous, let me offer two pieces of advice from above:
Cartridge bearing hubs should avoid radial lacing with all spokes in the same direction.
Not all Powerway-type hubs are problematic, but
with Rolf front hubs, I don't use it for a certain reason.
With Rolf rear hubs it's technically OK,
but since I almost never build rear wheels with the non-drive side radial,
it's not really relevant to me.
I won't explain the reason as it touches on trade secrets.
I also won't say whether these hubs fall into that category.
Addendum: Whether "a certain phenomenon" occurs when doing radial lacing with all spokes in the same direction is the deciding factor for whether radial lacing is feasible,
and this is determined by the bearing format of the hub, the shaft and locknuts, and about two other conditions.
Noting that "tangent-laced wheels alternate between all-in-one and all-opposite spoke directions,"
I've also tried building wheels with alternating all-in-one and all-opposite through the flange holes
and done radial lacing from there,
and in this case, the "certain phenomenon" occurs at a level that seemed like it would be midway between all-in-one and all-opposite,
but actually ended up being quite close to the all-in-one result.
Also, the 14mm silver-aluminum nipples that come with Sapim's CX-RAY
shouldn't be used.
I specially order and use DT's 12mm silver-aluminum nipples instead.
↑Leftover Sapim aluminum nipples I don't use
Just weighed them and the bag in back (full) is 1695g,
the bag in front (still accumulating) is 1030g, so together that's 2725g.
Since these nipples are about 36g per 100 pieces,
even estimating on the low side, that means I have about 7500 of them
just sitting unused.
I won't explain why DT's nipples are better.
Front wheel 20H, rear wheel 24H, all spokes are CX-RAY.
I heard about the builder from the customer.
Since they seem to be reading this blog, they'll probably see this too.
The rear wheel had runout that needed correcting,
and sure enough, there was fine lateral runout in both directions.
The front wheel had about a sheet of paper's worth of centering deviation.
With some centering gauges it would be judged as "centered,"
so there's no real issue.
There was some radial runout on the rear wheel, but that's unavoidable given the wheel's construction.
The XR200 is a high-precision rim that can dial in radial runout quite well,
but with this rear wheel being a 2:1 spoke pattern, the compromise point for radial runout inevitably goes down.
Compared to a similar configuration (steel spokes, 2:1 lacing) like a Racing 3 in typical off-the-shelf condition, it's far better.
With this amount of radial runout, it's far less than the deformation of the tire's contact patch,
so you won't feel any abnormality while riding.
The rear hub is a six-pawl freehub, and it's a sibling to the Rolf hub (unclear which is the older sibling).
The flange holes are designed for 2:1 spoke patterns.
It's built 2:1 with a 60-degree lacing pattern, but the spoke tension difference between sides goes beyond 100:100, with the non-drive side slightly higher
(at minimum, the minimum tension on the drive side is less than the maximum on the non-drive side),
so a 40-degree lacing might be better, but that's a matter of preference.
Apologizing for being presumptuous, let me offer two pieces of advice from above:
Cartridge bearing hubs should avoid radial lacing with all spokes in the same direction.
Not all Powerway-type hubs are problematic, but
with Rolf front hubs, I don't use it for a certain reason.
With Rolf rear hubs it's technically OK,
but since I almost never build rear wheels with the non-drive side radial,
it's not really relevant to me.
I won't explain the reason as it touches on trade secrets.
I also won't say whether these hubs fall into that category.
Addendum: Whether "a certain phenomenon" occurs when doing radial lacing with all spokes in the same direction is the deciding factor for whether radial lacing is feasible,
and this is determined by the bearing format of the hub, the shaft and locknuts, and about two other conditions.
Noting that "tangent-laced wheels alternate between all-in-one and all-opposite spoke directions,"
I've also tried building wheels with alternating all-in-one and all-opposite through the flange holes
and done radial lacing from there,
and in this case, the "certain phenomenon" occurs at a level that seemed like it would be midway between all-in-one and all-opposite,
but actually ended up being quite close to the all-in-one result.
Also, the 14mm silver-aluminum nipples that come with Sapim's CX-RAY
shouldn't be used.
I specially order and use DT's 12mm silver-aluminum nipples instead.
↑Leftover Sapim aluminum nipples I don't use
Just weighed them and the bag in back (full) is 1695g,
the bag in front (still accumulating) is 1030g, so together that's 2725g.
Since these nipples are about 36g per 100 pieces,
even estimating on the low side, that means I have about 7500 of them
just sitting unused.
I won't explain why DT's nipples are better.