Today it's wheels again (and so on).
But first.
Today I trued the rear wheel with the CycleOps in-house PowerTap hub.
They're round spokes, and you can see marks from being gripped with a pliers-like tool at a fixed distance from the nipple as a spoke-turning stop.
Anyway, on with wheels (and so on).
A customer left me with what they call a Nomulab Wheel No. 5 knockoff.
They want me to rebuild it so it's not a knockoff anymore.
If whoever built this wheel is reading here, and you say it's not a fake,
could you please explain your rationale for the asymmetrical spoke crossing and lacing?
14-gauge plain black spokes, 4-cross lacing, with wire binding.
The customer asked me to reuse any parts that could be salvaged, but
The drive side had some self-proclaimed Starbrite spokes,
and the non-drive side had Performance spokes.
Unfortunately, both were stainless steel spokes that showed no reaction to a magnet,
so they weren't worth reusing.
I would reuse spokes if they were DT Champions or Sapim Leaders,
and they weren't bent when disassembled. But not on this one.
Both sets of spokes had marks from being gripped with the width between the pliers tips.
Also, the paint on the black spokes was flaking off like eggshell—cheap looking.
But I wasn't going to use them anyway.
The nipples were 3.4mm red aluminum nipples, and many of them were stripped.
I tried to deal with this wheel before by retensioning,
but despite the slack tension, the nipple threadlocker was frustratingly strong.
It didn't work out. Also, when I disassembled it, I found it wasn't treated with Midrile,
which meant high friction between rim and nipple—another problem.
They couldn't replicate the Midrile treatment apparently.
I guess I've never written about it in detail here.
I got it built.
I'm suspicious of the rim I took apart too.
I held it against a glass surface plate and found no warping, so I reused it.
If the rim turns out to be bad, I'll only be reusing the hub and rim tape.
Novatech 482 24H hub in black, semi-competition 4-cross lacing with wire binding,
and I've switched to red aluminum nipples.
But first.
Today I trued the rear wheel with the CycleOps in-house PowerTap hub.
They're round spokes, and you can see marks from being gripped with a pliers-like tool at a fixed distance from the nipple as a spoke-turning stop.
Anyway, on with wheels (and so on).
A customer left me with what they call a Nomulab Wheel No. 5 knockoff.
They want me to rebuild it so it's not a knockoff anymore.
If whoever built this wheel is reading here, and you say it's not a fake,
could you please explain your rationale for the asymmetrical spoke crossing and lacing?
14-gauge plain black spokes, 4-cross lacing, with wire binding.
The customer asked me to reuse any parts that could be salvaged, but
The drive side had some self-proclaimed Starbrite spokes,
and the non-drive side had Performance spokes.
Unfortunately, both were stainless steel spokes that showed no reaction to a magnet,
so they weren't worth reusing.
I would reuse spokes if they were DT Champions or Sapim Leaders,
and they weren't bent when disassembled. But not on this one.
Both sets of spokes had marks from being gripped with the width between the pliers tips.
Also, the paint on the black spokes was flaking off like eggshell—cheap looking.
But I wasn't going to use them anyway.
The nipples were 3.4mm red aluminum nipples, and many of them were stripped.
I tried to deal with this wheel before by retensioning,
but despite the slack tension, the nipple threadlocker was frustratingly strong.
It didn't work out. Also, when I disassembled it, I found it wasn't treated with Midrile,
which meant high friction between rim and nipple—another problem.
They couldn't replicate the Midrile treatment apparently.
I guess I've never written about it in detail here.
I got it built.
I'm suspicious of the rim I took apart too.
I held it against a glass surface plate and found no warping, so I reused it.
If the rim turns out to be bad, I'll only be reusing the hub and rim tape.
Novatech 482 24H hub in black, semi-competition 4-cross lacing with wire binding,
and I've switched to red aluminum nipples.