Another day of wheel building (and so on).
I built the front wheel the day before yesterday, and the rear wheel today—though I can't show the front wheel here.
The rear wheel is 20H semi-comp 4-cross lacing with spoke weaving.
Since I don't want to just throw this into the usual "another wheel" category,
I went ahead and built another one.
The rim is a Tni CX22 tubular rim,
and the hub is a Tni Evolution disc hub.
I went with 28H all-CX-RAY 6-cross Italian lacing in reverse.
I'll probably do spoke weaving on this one too.
I removed the quick-release style dropout because
I'm converting it from quick-release to a 12mm through-axle.
This is a cyclocross front wheel, but
front disc hubs with through-axle format come in either
15mm or 12mm diameters (MTB also has 20mm).
Shimano's E-Thru standard is 15mm for the front, but
there seems to be a recent push toward making 12mm the mainstream for the front.
The GIANT TCX Advanced Pro that this wheel will be installed on
had a 15mm front hub on the 2016 model,
but switched to 12mm on the 2017 model.
If it were 15mm, you could use Shimano's MTB hub as-is.
Shimano's MTB hubs are nice because they're affordable,
but they only come in 32H as standard.
Only in 2017 did XTRI add a 28H option.
Since the customer's bike is the 2017 TCX model,
I can't use Shimano's MTB front hub.
The wheels that come with the TCX complete bike—both 2016 and 2017—
have Formula (not the Italian disc brake maker,
but the Taiwanese hub manufacturer) disc hubs
with 28H front and 32H rear.
The bike's expected delivery is late January,
so it actually hasn't arrived at the customer yet.
I suggested using that hub and just swapping in a lighter tubular rim,
but the customer wanted to keep those hubs,
so we decided to build separate front and rear 12mm through-axle hub wheels instead.
The 12mm front through-axle standard was spearheaded by
fork maker ENVE and hub maker Chris King,
and you can get Chris King hubs right away if you know where to look.
The distributors even had them in stock.
But they're a bit pricey, so I looked for other options
and ended up going with converting a Tni disc front hub
to through-axle format.
↑This is the Tni disc front hub.
You remove the quick-release style dropout
and swap it out
for one designed for 12mm through-axles.
And you can make the swap.
But there's a problem with just doing this—
with "this combination," the hub rotation has an abnormally gritty feel
and it can't be used as a wheel.
Novatec hubs, from the 2016 manufacturing batch onward,
have serial numbers printed in small text on the hub shell.
Tni disc hubs come in different versions,
and the design of the quick-release dropout differs
between hubs without printing and those with printing.
Following the distributor's nomenclature, I'll call the ones without printing "A" and those with printing "B."
Currently, the 28H and 32H are type A, and only the 24H is type B.
Eventually everything might transition to B,
but for now you can also tell by the number of flange holes.
If you're reading this from far in the future,
judge by the presence or absence of printing regardless of hole count.
Since this hub is 28H, its dropout design is type A.
The 12mm adapters are currently out of stock at the distributor,
so I can't get them right away.
The 12mm adapter shown in the earlier image
is from our shop's inventory.
So we have adapter B and hub A in our shop right now,
which explains the strange rotation I mentioned earlier.
When I insert the quick-release type A dropout (original state),
it fits flush with the hub shell.
But when I insert the 12mm through-axle type B dropout,
it protrudes slightly.
I centered the wheel using the A dropout for quick-release, then
switched to the B dropout and checked with a centering gauge—
both sides showed gaps in the rim.
The over-locknut dimension should be the same regardless of which adapter I use,
so this means the B dropout on both sides
isn't fully seated.
Let me investigate what dimension is different. The length of the part that enters the hub,
the length and diameter of the shoulder that presses only the bearing's inner race—
they're all identical.
So what's different?
↑Type A dropout for quick-release
↑Type B dropout for through-axle
I found the difference!
Both images have the outside facing upward, but
the B dropout's dust seal has a slightly larger outer diameter.
Since the A dropout's inner and outer diameters match the B dropout's inner diameter,
if I grind down the B dropout's outer diameter to match its inner diameter,
it should match the A dropout's dimensions.
Once I figured that out, I would've used a grinder, but
I can't run a grinder in the middle of the night,
so that's where I'm stopping for today.
The customer's bike still hasn't arrived yet, and even if it shows up on schedule,
we're only looking at 2 or 3 races for the Kansai Cyclocross season,
so I can't wait for the distributor to restock the B dropouts.
For now, I'll have to make a modified dropout as a temporary workaround.
Also, if we're okay with sacrificing some dust and water sealing,
it is possible to use the "B hub shell with A dropout" combination.
There would be a gap between the hub shell and dust seal,
but the seal rubber diameter would stay the same.
I built the front wheel the day before yesterday, and the rear wheel today—though I can't show the front wheel here.
The rear wheel is 20H semi-comp 4-cross lacing with spoke weaving.
Since I don't want to just throw this into the usual "another wheel" category,
I went ahead and built another one.
The rim is a Tni CX22 tubular rim,
and the hub is a Tni Evolution disc hub.
I went with 28H all-CX-RAY 6-cross Italian lacing in reverse.
I'll probably do spoke weaving on this one too.
I removed the quick-release style dropout because
I'm converting it from quick-release to a 12mm through-axle.
This is a cyclocross front wheel, but
front disc hubs with through-axle format come in either
15mm or 12mm diameters (MTB also has 20mm).
Shimano's E-Thru standard is 15mm for the front, but
there seems to be a recent push toward making 12mm the mainstream for the front.
The GIANT TCX Advanced Pro that this wheel will be installed on
had a 15mm front hub on the 2016 model,
but switched to 12mm on the 2017 model.
If it were 15mm, you could use Shimano's MTB hub as-is.
Shimano's MTB hubs are nice because they're affordable,
but they only come in 32H as standard.
Only in 2017 did XTRI add a 28H option.
Since the customer's bike is the 2017 TCX model,
I can't use Shimano's MTB front hub.
The wheels that come with the TCX complete bike—both 2016 and 2017—
have Formula (not the Italian disc brake maker,
but the Taiwanese hub manufacturer) disc hubs
with 28H front and 32H rear.
The bike's expected delivery is late January,
so it actually hasn't arrived at the customer yet.
I suggested using that hub and just swapping in a lighter tubular rim,
but the customer wanted to keep those hubs,
so we decided to build separate front and rear 12mm through-axle hub wheels instead.
The 12mm front through-axle standard was spearheaded by
fork maker ENVE and hub maker Chris King,
and you can get Chris King hubs right away if you know where to look.
The distributors even had them in stock.
But they're a bit pricey, so I looked for other options
and ended up going with converting a Tni disc front hub
to through-axle format.
↑This is the Tni disc front hub.
You remove the quick-release style dropout
and swap it out
for one designed for 12mm through-axles.
And you can make the swap.
But there's a problem with just doing this—
with "this combination," the hub rotation has an abnormally gritty feel
and it can't be used as a wheel.
Novatec hubs, from the 2016 manufacturing batch onward,
have serial numbers printed in small text on the hub shell.
Tni disc hubs come in different versions,
and the design of the quick-release dropout differs
between hubs without printing and those with printing.
Following the distributor's nomenclature, I'll call the ones without printing "A" and those with printing "B."
Currently, the 28H and 32H are type A, and only the 24H is type B.
Eventually everything might transition to B,
but for now you can also tell by the number of flange holes.
If you're reading this from far in the future,
judge by the presence or absence of printing regardless of hole count.
Since this hub is 28H, its dropout design is type A.
The 12mm adapters are currently out of stock at the distributor,
so I can't get them right away.
The 12mm adapter shown in the earlier image
is from our shop's inventory.
So we have adapter B and hub A in our shop right now,
which explains the strange rotation I mentioned earlier.
When I insert the quick-release type A dropout (original state),
it fits flush with the hub shell.
But when I insert the 12mm through-axle type B dropout,
it protrudes slightly.
I centered the wheel using the A dropout for quick-release, then
switched to the B dropout and checked with a centering gauge—
both sides showed gaps in the rim.
The over-locknut dimension should be the same regardless of which adapter I use,
so this means the B dropout on both sides
isn't fully seated.
Let me investigate what dimension is different. The length of the part that enters the hub,
the length and diameter of the shoulder that presses only the bearing's inner race—
they're all identical.
So what's different?
↑Type A dropout for quick-release
↑Type B dropout for through-axle
I found the difference!
Both images have the outside facing upward, but
the B dropout's dust seal has a slightly larger outer diameter.
Since the A dropout's inner and outer diameters match the B dropout's inner diameter,
if I grind down the B dropout's outer diameter to match its inner diameter,
it should match the A dropout's dimensions.
Once I figured that out, I would've used a grinder, but
I can't run a grinder in the middle of the night,
so that's where I'm stopping for today.
The customer's bike still hasn't arrived yet, and even if it shows up on schedule,
we're only looking at 2 or 3 races for the Kansai Cyclocross season,
so I can't wait for the distributor to restock the B dropouts.
For now, I'll have to make a modified dropout as a temporary workaround.
Also, if we're okay with sacrificing some dust and water sealing,
it is possible to use the "B hub shell with A dropout" combination.
There would be a gap between the hub shell and dust seal,
but the seal rubber diameter would stay the same.