Another day, wheels and such (et cetera).
A customer (sort of) brought in the front wheel
of a Reynolds THIRTY TWO tubular wheel for a rebuild.
The matching rear wheel has been rebuilt according to our shop's standard practice with Reynolds
(and also Shimano, ZIPP, FF Yamaguchi, etc.),
but they want the front wheel to have a Leaf hub.
It's not that rebuilding it is a pain,
but this really doesn't have much merit.
Not that rebuilding it is a pain, mind you.
In its complete build state it came with DT Aerolite straight spokes
and has a super-wide flange width, so
if I were to rebuild it with a Leaf hub, it would be something like a black CX-RAY butted spoke setup.
Given that the condition of "building with work-hardened spokes at 65% spoke specific gravity
under tension as high as the rim allows—practically at the limit"
would be essentially the same before and after the rebuild, with the only real difference being flange width,
even if the hub weight differs somewhat,
the original state before rebuilding would definitely have superior overall performance.
The Leaf hub does have better rotation characteristics,
but this Reynolds hub allows bearing adjustment and
has a larger bearing diameter, so its durability is actually superior to the Leaf hub.
If this were my own wheel, I would definitely rebuild the rear wheel, but
the front wheel I'd just leave as-is.
So that's that—take it back home.
Also, rebuilding it is a hassle.
↑Front wheel weight.
It's almost the same weight as the Colima VIVA MCC from the other day.
With that one, the rim weight as a proportion of the overall wheel is unclear,
but in my assessment, the rim alone is probably similar in weight, so
at the same weight, the VIVA—which is far stiffer—is the superior option.
Even if you tension this rim as tight as you can with straight or butted spokes,
it will absolutely never reach the stiffness of the VIVA, so
that wheel exists in a realm beyond generic commodity wheels.
Took it apart.
Reynolds hub
Leaf hub
Built it up.
Leaf hub 20H black CX-RAY reverse-butted radial laced.
It certainly is lighter now.
The loss from the narrower flange width can't really be
made up for with spoke tension, but
the 20H front wheels I've built with Leaf hubs
aren't particularly known to be weak, so I don't think there's really a problem.
For someone weighing about 0.1 tons, they might be satisfied with the original complete build
and feel the rebuilt wheel is a bit mushy laterally,
something like that in their evaluation.
A customer (sort of) brought in the front wheel
of a Reynolds THIRTY TWO tubular wheel for a rebuild.
The matching rear wheel has been rebuilt according to our shop's standard practice with Reynolds
(and also Shimano, ZIPP, FF Yamaguchi, etc.),
but they want the front wheel to have a Leaf hub.
It's not that rebuilding it is a pain,
but this really doesn't have much merit.
Not that rebuilding it is a pain, mind you.
In its complete build state it came with DT Aerolite straight spokes
and has a super-wide flange width, so
if I were to rebuild it with a Leaf hub, it would be something like a black CX-RAY butted spoke setup.
Given that the condition of "building with work-hardened spokes at 65% spoke specific gravity
under tension as high as the rim allows—practically at the limit"
would be essentially the same before and after the rebuild, with the only real difference being flange width,
even if the hub weight differs somewhat,
the original state before rebuilding would definitely have superior overall performance.
The Leaf hub does have better rotation characteristics,
but this Reynolds hub allows bearing adjustment and
has a larger bearing diameter, so its durability is actually superior to the Leaf hub.
If this were my own wheel, I would definitely rebuild the rear wheel, but
the front wheel I'd just leave as-is.
So that's that—take it back home.
↑Front wheel weight.
It's almost the same weight as the Colima VIVA MCC from the other day.
With that one, the rim weight as a proportion of the overall wheel is unclear,
but in my assessment, the rim alone is probably similar in weight, so
at the same weight, the VIVA—which is far stiffer—is the superior option.
Even if you tension this rim as tight as you can with straight or butted spokes,
it will absolutely never reach the stiffness of the VIVA, so
that wheel exists in a realm beyond generic commodity wheels.
Took it apart.
Reynolds hub
Leaf hub
Built it up.
Leaf hub 20H black CX-RAY reverse-butted radial laced.
It certainly is lighter now.
The loss from the narrower flange width can't really be
made up for with spoke tension, but
the 20H front wheels I've built with Leaf hubs
aren't particularly known to be weak, so I don't think there's really a problem.
For someone weighing about 0.1 tons, they might be satisfied with the original complete build
and feel the rebuilt wheel is a bit mushy laterally,
something like that in their evaluation.