Another wheel day (and so on).
A customer brought in a Racing 5.5 for work.
Like Shimano's WH-RS11 and others, it's an assembly-only wheel
sold exclusively to complete bike manufacturers.
By the way, the frame is a Cervélo.
But here's the thing—the customer asked if we could build it
with a 24-spoke G3 hub.
The Racing 5.5 is 24-spoke with a 2:1 lacing pattern (16+8 spokes),
so the rim spoke holes don't alternate left and right evenly.
So comparing hole patterns to a standard wheel,
right-left-right×8 repeats ← 2:1 lacing 24H
left-right×12 repeats ← 1:1 lacing 24H
but to make it easier to see, if you align them at 6-hole intervals (the LCM),
right-left-right-right-left-right×4 repeats ← 2:1 lacing 24H
left-right-left-right-left-right×4 repeats ← 1:1 lacing 24H
The PowerTap hub naturally has equal flanges on both sides,
so when built with the Racing 5.5 rim,
there are more mismatched spoke holes than matching ones.
But since the customer really wanted this rim,
I made it work somehow.
I do all the wheel-building work in front of the customer, and
there's a certain step where I modify the rim slightly.
The customer asked, "Is that related to the spoke hole pattern?"
and I said no.
Sorry, that was half a lie and half the truth.
Because it does relate to spoke hole pattern, but
I do the same thing with the rims on Nomu Lab wheels 1, 4, and 5,
so it's not something I only do because this is a 2:1 lacing rim.
Also, I wouldn't do it if the rim were an Open Pro.
Done.
As for the wheel building, while the customer stepped away to take a phone call,
I moved at triple speed.
When they came back from outside after finishing the call,
they said, "Whoa, we're way ahead!" That explains it.
24-spoke, half-comp, four-cross lacing with J-bends.
A customer brought in a Racing 5.5 for work.
Like Shimano's WH-RS11 and others, it's an assembly-only wheel
sold exclusively to complete bike manufacturers.
By the way, the frame is a Cervélo.
But here's the thing—the customer asked if we could build it
with a 24-spoke G3 hub.
The Racing 5.5 is 24-spoke with a 2:1 lacing pattern (16+8 spokes),
so the rim spoke holes don't alternate left and right evenly.
So comparing hole patterns to a standard wheel,
right-left-right×8 repeats ← 2:1 lacing 24H
left-right×12 repeats ← 1:1 lacing 24H
but to make it easier to see, if you align them at 6-hole intervals (the LCM),
right-left-right-right-left-right×4 repeats ← 2:1 lacing 24H
left-right-left-right-left-right×4 repeats ← 1:1 lacing 24H
The PowerTap hub naturally has equal flanges on both sides,
so when built with the Racing 5.5 rim,
there are more mismatched spoke holes than matching ones.
But since the customer really wanted this rim,
I made it work somehow.
I do all the wheel-building work in front of the customer, and
there's a certain step where I modify the rim slightly.
The customer asked, "Is that related to the spoke hole pattern?"
and I said no.
Sorry, that was half a lie and half the truth.
Because it does relate to spoke hole pattern, but
I do the same thing with the rims on Nomu Lab wheels 1, 4, and 5,
so it's not something I only do because this is a 2:1 lacing rim.
Also, I wouldn't do it if the rim were an Open Pro.
Done.
As for the wheel building, while the customer stepped away to take a phone call,
I moved at triple speed.
When they came back from outside after finishing the call,
they said, "Whoa, we're way ahead!" That explains it.
24-spoke, half-comp, four-cross lacing with J-bends.