I recently received a comment regarding something I wrote about the flange shape of a Circus Monkey hub on a wheel I built.
"Isn't the notch on the high-side flange actually more convenient when threading the non-spoke side spokes, rather than when threading the regular spokes?
If I'm wrong, I apologize."
But the notch is actually more convenient when threading regular spokes.
No need to apologize — there's no problem at all.
Rather, I'm grateful for the opportunity this comment gave me to write about this.
When building a high-low flange hub on the non-driveside with tangent lacing,
half the spokes are regular and half are reverse, but
since reverse spokes thread straight through the flange holes,
it's easy to bend them slightly afterward.
With regular spokes, however, even when in contact with the driveside hub flange,
the spokes sit at an angle relative to the non-driveside holes,
making them extremely difficult to thread initially.
The spoke threads (obviously) also get in the way of threading.
Non-driveside regular spokes are extremely difficult to thread not only on high-low flanges,
but also on hubs with thick flanges like Chris King,
and Dura-Ace hubs, which additionally have slightly smaller flange holes (presumably to tighten the collar)
(Dura-Ace hubs are only 0.5mm different in flange radius, so they're essentially equal-diameter flanges)
Novatech hubs are easier to thread non-driveside regular spokes on, even with high-low flanges,
because they have larger flange holes and thinner flanges.
Whether a CX-RAY (spoke with anti-seize compound) drops straight through by its own weight
is a practical benchmark for how easy the work will be.
So the notch helps with both regular and reverse spokes,
but with reverse spokes it's a matter of how much you bend them after threading,
whereas with regular spokes the incident angle changes during threading, making the notch even more helpful.
What requires the most care is when removing spokes — due to errors like wrong spoke drop or spoke length.
Starting from where the threads engage the flange hole, pulling straight out becomes difficult,
and at that point you must push the spoke toward the hub body or it won't come out.
When removing spokes this way, the spoke tip can sometimes scratch the hub body from the momentum.
In most cases this causes damage on the first pass, so
it must be avoided at all costs.
So when I end up in this situation,
I insert my finger between the hub body and spoke to protect it.
But before that, the important thing is to avoid this situation altogether
by getting the spoke length and threading method right in the first place.
Thank you for the comment.
"Isn't the notch on the high-side flange actually more convenient when threading the non-spoke side spokes, rather than when threading the regular spokes?
If I'm wrong, I apologize."
But the notch is actually more convenient when threading regular spokes.
No need to apologize — there's no problem at all.
Rather, I'm grateful for the opportunity this comment gave me to write about this.
When building a high-low flange hub on the non-driveside with tangent lacing,
half the spokes are regular and half are reverse, but
since reverse spokes thread straight through the flange holes,
it's easy to bend them slightly afterward.
With regular spokes, however, even when in contact with the driveside hub flange,
the spokes sit at an angle relative to the non-driveside holes,
making them extremely difficult to thread initially.
The spoke threads (obviously) also get in the way of threading.
Non-driveside regular spokes are extremely difficult to thread not only on high-low flanges,
but also on hubs with thick flanges like Chris King,
and Dura-Ace hubs, which additionally have slightly smaller flange holes (presumably to tighten the collar)
(Dura-Ace hubs are only 0.5mm different in flange radius, so they're essentially equal-diameter flanges)
Novatech hubs are easier to thread non-driveside regular spokes on, even with high-low flanges,
because they have larger flange holes and thinner flanges.
Whether a CX-RAY (spoke with anti-seize compound) drops straight through by its own weight
is a practical benchmark for how easy the work will be.
So the notch helps with both regular and reverse spokes,
but with reverse spokes it's a matter of how much you bend them after threading,
whereas with regular spokes the incident angle changes during threading, making the notch even more helpful.
What requires the most care is when removing spokes — due to errors like wrong spoke drop or spoke length.
Starting from where the threads engage the flange hole, pulling straight out becomes difficult,
and at that point you must push the spoke toward the hub body or it won't come out.
When removing spokes this way, the spoke tip can sometimes scratch the hub body from the momentum.
In most cases this causes damage on the first pass, so
it must be avoided at all costs.
So when I end up in this situation,
I insert my finger between the hub body and spoke to protect it.
But before that, the important thing is to avoid this situation altogether
by getting the spoke length and threading method right in the first place.
Thank you for the comment.