Wheels again today (and so on).
Today I built a #2 rear 20H.
Some of you waiting on backorder might say, "Wait, there's a #2 20H rim?!"
but this is a set-aside build for a customer who's been waiting patiently
because the Evolution hub rear 20H has been impossible to source.
Since the hub restock is significantly delayed, I asked the supplier
if we could switch to the ceramic bearing model Wing hub instead.
I'd been hesitant about the Wing hub because the Evolution hub has superior hub body dimensions (wider flange width and slightly high-low)
but I recently learned that the Wing II has been significantly improved.
One way to tell Wing hub generation I from II is whether "CERAMIC" is
printed on the hub shell.
↑From the importer's website.
They call them "no logo" and "with logo" rather than I and II,
but the flange width on I is 38 + 16.8 = 54.8mm,
and on II it's 39 + 18 = 57mm.
While it's not a high-low flange, the flange width now matches
the Evolution pretty much exactly.
That 1-2mm difference is huge.
The spoke hole pitch is listed as 45mm on both sides, but
when I set my calipers to 45mm
and actually measure, that's not what I get. It's more like 44mm.
This 0.5mm radius difference doesn't affect wheel quality much,
but it does affect spoke length calculations.
You can't just trust the manufacturer's specs at face value.
But the flange width is definitely 57mm (just to be clear).
There's one more definitive way to tell Wing I rear hubs apart.
The Wing I has a lightened section on the non-freehub-side flange.
As long as it's not from that earlier era, current Wing hubs
should build wheels that match Evolution pretty closely.
I'm sure many of you who are running EDGE wheels I've built have been told firmly,
"Just go with the Evolution hub,"
but with current models, given how light the hubs are themselves, Wing might be worth considering.
"The lightness of Wing · the balanced performance of Evolution"
There's a catchy way to put it (laughs).
For the customer's order: DT Comp on the freehub side, CX-RAY on the non-freehub side,
with internal lacing, rear 20H, and I requested a Wing hub.
Since we went with a Wing hub, the customer wrote, "Maybe we could break 700g?"
Our stock #2 rear wheel is all-DT Comp, 24H, Evolution hub, and our measured weight is 759g.
Is there really 60g to trim?
The hub was bouncing between 195g and 194g,
so I took this photo at 194g. This should be 1g lighter.
（Well, that logic doesn't quite hold up.）
The rim measured average 347g, which is pretty good.
The CX-RAY should have been (94/2)g by calculation,
and the measured value was dead on at 47g.
The DT Comp should have been 65g by calculation, but measured 63g.
This is an old suspicion of mine, but the weight ratio of
DT Competition 2.0-1.8-2.0 to the 2.0mm plain spokes might not be
90.3% but rather around 89-88%.
I'm fortunate to have about 2000 Comps in stock right now,
so I'm planning to measure some to recalculate.
I tried to get a photo of the nipples,
but every time I shot, some kind of sky fish (the creature-like thing at the bottom)
kept appearing and I couldn't get a clear image.
I did get a photo of the sky fish though.
Sorry I couldn't show you the detailed nipple image (deadpan).
Aluminum nipples are about 1g per 3 pieces,
so for 20H that's about 20 pieces = 7g.
So that's 194 + 345 + 47 + 63 + 7 = 657g!!
So that's about 100g lighter than our stock #2...
So let me actually weigh it.
I'm using a vinyl tape core as the base,
but that weight is excluded.
First, the stock #2. Hmm, it's lighter than 759g.
It might be because it hasn't been soldered yet.
Now the custom #2. It came in right around the estimate.
It might gain a few grams after soldering,
but breaking 700g is definitely in the bag.
Great, great!
This is the lightest rear wheel in Nomu Lab history,
but if we went with CX-RAY on the freehub side it could be around 640g.
Instead, accepting that extra 18g gives us this 658g rear wheel
which should deliver a more solid, planted ride feel—
that's my optimal solution.
Oh, one more thing I thought was nice.
The front hub is a custom 9000 Dura-Ace,
and in terms of finish and flange thickness it's quite similar.
The Dura-Ace's anodizing is more of a deep dark green
than true black.
Today I built a #2 rear 20H.
Some of you waiting on backorder might say, "Wait, there's a #2 20H rim?!"
but this is a set-aside build for a customer who's been waiting patiently
because the Evolution hub rear 20H has been impossible to source.
Since the hub restock is significantly delayed, I asked the supplier
if we could switch to the ceramic bearing model Wing hub instead.
I'd been hesitant about the Wing hub because the Evolution hub has superior hub body dimensions (wider flange width and slightly high-low)
but I recently learned that the Wing II has been significantly improved.
One way to tell Wing hub generation I from II is whether "CERAMIC" is
printed on the hub shell.
↑From the importer's website.
They call them "no logo" and "with logo" rather than I and II,
but the flange width on I is 38 + 16.8 = 54.8mm,
and on II it's 39 + 18 = 57mm.
While it's not a high-low flange, the flange width now matches
the Evolution pretty much exactly.
That 1-2mm difference is huge.
The spoke hole pitch is listed as 45mm on both sides, but
when I set my calipers to 45mm
and actually measure, that's not what I get. It's more like 44mm.
This 0.5mm radius difference doesn't affect wheel quality much,
but it does affect spoke length calculations.
You can't just trust the manufacturer's specs at face value.
But the flange width is definitely 57mm (just to be clear).
There's one more definitive way to tell Wing I rear hubs apart.
The Wing I has a lightened section on the non-freehub-side flange.
As long as it's not from that earlier era, current Wing hubs
should build wheels that match Evolution pretty closely.
I'm sure many of you who are running EDGE wheels I've built have been told firmly,
"Just go with the Evolution hub,"
but with current models, given how light the hubs are themselves, Wing might be worth considering.
"The lightness of Wing · the balanced performance of Evolution"
There's a catchy way to put it (laughs).
For the customer's order: DT Comp on the freehub side, CX-RAY on the non-freehub side,
with internal lacing, rear 20H, and I requested a Wing hub.
Since we went with a Wing hub, the customer wrote, "Maybe we could break 700g?"
Our stock #2 rear wheel is all-DT Comp, 24H, Evolution hub, and our measured weight is 759g.
Is there really 60g to trim?
The hub was bouncing between 195g and 194g,
so I took this photo at 194g. This should be 1g lighter.
（Well, that logic doesn't quite hold up.）
The rim measured average 347g, which is pretty good.
The CX-RAY should have been (94/2)g by calculation,
and the measured value was dead on at 47g.
The DT Comp should have been 65g by calculation, but measured 63g.
This is an old suspicion of mine, but the weight ratio of
DT Competition 2.0-1.8-2.0 to the 2.0mm plain spokes might not be
90.3% but rather around 89-88%.
I'm fortunate to have about 2000 Comps in stock right now,
so I'm planning to measure some to recalculate.
I tried to get a photo of the nipples,
but every time I shot, some kind of sky fish (the creature-like thing at the bottom)
kept appearing and I couldn't get a clear image.
I did get a photo of the sky fish though.
Sorry I couldn't show you the detailed nipple image (deadpan).
Aluminum nipples are about 1g per 3 pieces,
so for 20H that's about 20 pieces = 7g.
So that's 194 + 345 + 47 + 63 + 7 = 657g!!
So that's about 100g lighter than our stock #2...
So let me actually weigh it.
I'm using a vinyl tape core as the base,
but that weight is excluded.
First, the stock #2. Hmm, it's lighter than 759g.
It might be because it hasn't been soldered yet.
Now the custom #2. It came in right around the estimate.
It might gain a few grams after soldering,
but breaking 700g is definitely in the bag.
Great, great!
This is the lightest rear wheel in Nomu Lab history,
but if we went with CX-RAY on the freehub side it could be around 640g.
Instead, accepting that extra 18g gives us this 658g rear wheel
which should deliver a more solid, planted ride feel—
that's my optimal solution.
Oh, one more thing I thought was nice.
The front hub is a custom 9000 Dura-Ace,
and in terms of finish and flange thickness it's quite similar.
The Dura-Ace's anodizing is more of a deep dark green
than true black.