Another wheel day (and so on).
A customer brought in a wheel built with a PowerTap GS hub.
The rim is a carbon WO from Echinox.
The customer built it themselves, but they want it rebuilt.
The original build was equivalent to full CX-RAY straight 4-cross pattern
with no weaving at the final crossing, but
since it's a straight-spoke hub, the 4-cross equivalent section can't be changed.
What I can do is add or remove weaving at the final crossing, change spoke gauge,
and tying (if woven).
Dead center perfect, tension properly set,
and radial and lateral runout taken care of beyond manual correction.
In other words, if we don't change the spokes,
it would be fine as is... or so it seems.
It was built with reversed hole orientation.
And the valve hole position
sits within the bundle on either side of the final spoke crossing.
Shifting the rim clockwise by just one hole would solve everything.
Regarding spoke length,
The freewheel-side nipple face is flush~
The non-freewheel-side nipple face is minus 4 threads~
The freewheel-side nipple face is flush~
The non-freewheel-side nipple face is minus 4 threads~
repeating alternately.
They used the same length spokes on both sides, but
this isn't due to the customer's negligence or laziness—
it's because that's what PowerTap specifies (→here), so there's nothing to be done about it.
After disassembling the wheel,
I examined what it looks like when you've used up the spoke threads.
The nipple face is about plus 7 threads.
Of course, I won't make spoke lengths that bottom out at 7 threads.
If I were to build with the same length on both sides, I think
minus 2 threads on the non-freewheel side and plus 2 threads on the freewheel side would be ideal.
For the rebuild, I decided to reuse the non-freewheel-side spokes.
For the freewheel side, I cut the CX-RAY 24H about 1mm shorter
and got the nipple face to minus 1 thread,
and for the non-freewheel side, using the same spokes,
ended up at about minus 3 threads on the nipple face.
Before and after the rebuild, dead center perfect, but
due to the different-diameter build and the final tightening,
the non-freewheel-side nipple tightening differs by about one full turn.
Built.
GS Hub 24H black semi-leader, equivalent to 4-cross pattern
with weaving on both sides of the final crossing and tied.
Both front and rear rims are Echinox model WH156,
and like other Echinox rims (if such specifications exist),
18H and 20H should be for front (20H can also be used for rear),
and 24H and 28H should be for rear because they have freewheel orientation specifications.
Indeed, this rim also has the marking 24R (24H for rear use) and
freewheel orientation specifications, but
when built according to them,
cautions like "use Echinox brakes, maximum tension is...",
always end up on the left side (non-freewheel side).
This only applies to rear rims; front rims don't have such directional constraints,
but the front wheel checks out fine too.
Initially I thought the relationship between hub and rim was reversed,
but this is correct.
I had assumed the hub flange serial number marking
should normally be on the left side,
but if the correct orientation is when the PowerTap logo on the hub body faces upward,
then the hub-to-rim relationship is not wrong.
The front wheel was just to be inspected.
Dead center perfect, virtually no lateral runout, not so loose as to need retightening—
there was just one faint radial runout spot, so I fixed that.
When everything else is clean, paradoxically it becomes harder to correct.
Right after fixing the radial runout, the lateral runout was slightly larger than when I received it.
Unlike the rear wheel, there were no hole orientation mistakes, so rebuilding wasn't necessary.
The spoke length was flush at the nipple face.
A customer brought in a wheel built with a PowerTap GS hub.
The rim is a carbon WO from Echinox.
The customer built it themselves, but they want it rebuilt.
The original build was equivalent to full CX-RAY straight 4-cross pattern
with no weaving at the final crossing, but
since it's a straight-spoke hub, the 4-cross equivalent section can't be changed.
What I can do is add or remove weaving at the final crossing, change spoke gauge,
and tying (if woven).
Dead center perfect, tension properly set,
and radial and lateral runout taken care of beyond manual correction.
In other words, if we don't change the spokes,
it would be fine as is... or so it seems.
It was built with reversed hole orientation.
And the valve hole position
sits within the bundle on either side of the final spoke crossing.
Shifting the rim clockwise by just one hole would solve everything.
Regarding spoke length,
The freewheel-side nipple face is flush~
The non-freewheel-side nipple face is minus 4 threads~
The freewheel-side nipple face is flush~
The non-freewheel-side nipple face is minus 4 threads~
repeating alternately.
They used the same length spokes on both sides, but
this isn't due to the customer's negligence or laziness—
it's because that's what PowerTap specifies (→here), so there's nothing to be done about it.
After disassembling the wheel,
I examined what it looks like when you've used up the spoke threads.
The nipple face is about plus 7 threads.
Of course, I won't make spoke lengths that bottom out at 7 threads.
If I were to build with the same length on both sides, I think
minus 2 threads on the non-freewheel side and plus 2 threads on the freewheel side would be ideal.
For the rebuild, I decided to reuse the non-freewheel-side spokes.
For the freewheel side, I cut the CX-RAY 24H about 1mm shorter
and got the nipple face to minus 1 thread,
and for the non-freewheel side, using the same spokes,
ended up at about minus 3 threads on the nipple face.
Before and after the rebuild, dead center perfect, but
due to the different-diameter build and the final tightening,
the non-freewheel-side nipple tightening differs by about one full turn.
Built.
GS Hub 24H black semi-leader, equivalent to 4-cross pattern
with weaving on both sides of the final crossing and tied.
Both front and rear rims are Echinox model WH156,
and like other Echinox rims (if such specifications exist),
18H and 20H should be for front (20H can also be used for rear),
and 24H and 28H should be for rear because they have freewheel orientation specifications.
Indeed, this rim also has the marking 24R (24H for rear use) and
freewheel orientation specifications, but
when built according to them,
cautions like "use Echinox brakes, maximum tension is...",
always end up on the left side (non-freewheel side).
This only applies to rear rims; front rims don't have such directional constraints,
but the front wheel checks out fine too.
Initially I thought the relationship between hub and rim was reversed,
but this is correct.
I had assumed the hub flange serial number marking
should normally be on the left side,
but if the correct orientation is when the PowerTap logo on the hub body faces upward,
then the hub-to-rim relationship is not wrong.
The front wheel was just to be inspected.
Dead center perfect, virtually no lateral runout, not so loose as to need retightening—
there was just one faint radial runout spot, so I fixed that.
When everything else is clean, paradoxically it becomes harder to correct.
Right after fixing the radial runout, the lateral runout was slightly larger than when I received it.
Unlike the rear wheel, there were no hole orientation mistakes, so rebuilding wasn't necessary.
The spoke length was flush at the nipple face.