Another wheel day today (and so on).
I received a pair of front and rear wheels built with ENVE 25 rims from a customer.
Both wheels had extremely loose spoke tension, and it was so slack that even aging and drooping wouldn't account for it, so
either the original builder had a philosophy of loose builds or they were too timid to tension them properly
either way, they were built nice and puffy.
On the front wheel, aside from truing, I've done additional tightening,
tensioning all the nipples by more than a full rotation.
The rear wheel is an Evorite (Japanese hub brand) hub 24H all-black CX-RAY 4-cross build.
The spoke length on the freewheel side seems a bit too long...
By loosening the nipples almost completely around the rim and pulling them out from the rim,
here's a nipple that was never loosened at all.
If the front wheel's spoke length had been similar to this,
additional tightening would have been impossible as-is.
The tire was mounted with tubular tape,
but there's something that looks like rim cement stuck to the nipple.
When I touched it, it was grease. It's even gotten on the spoke threads.
I'm reusing the nipples, but I'm cleaning them very thoroughly with ultrasonic cleaning and degreasing.
This rim has the horizontal ENVE branding (more on that later),
and since the serial number is 7 digits, it seems to be a fairly late model.
The nominal weight of the final lot 25 is 250g, but
the actual measured weight is like this.
The "25-24" on the rim means "model name 25, 24-hole count",
but in the case of 45 or 65, the model name part becomes 1.45 or 1.65.
↑Like this
The 45 and 65 had deliberately heavier "2" models compared to the regular "1" model,
marketed for durability,
and were released for cyclocross and heavy riders,
in which case the rim marking would be 2.45 or 2.65.
What I'm getting at is,
there is no "2.25" model for the 25.
So the final late-period 25 model name is also "25", not "1.25".
In other words, this rim is just an individual variance issue within the spec 250g rim.
The EDGE~ENVE 25 can be divided into three types by the appearance of the sticker.
In the images above is the earliest diagonal EDGE, followed by horizontal EDGE,
and then the brand name changed to ENVE and it became horizontal ENVE.
The horizontal EDGE is the rear wheel from here, and by the way the front wheel is diagonal EDGE.
As for nominal weight, the diagonal EDGE is 195g,
the horizontal EDGE is 195g early on and 215g later,
and the horizontal ENVE is 215g early on and 250g later.
And our secret inventory includes a horizontal ENVE 25 20H rim, but
oddly the serial number is just 5 digits, which is very early.
This is the final inventory from ENVE's previous wholesaler,
the genuine last remaining unit,
but if we'd been following strict FIFO (first in, first out) inventory practice, a 5-digit rim wouldn't still be here.
It probably wasn't hidden away based on FIFO,
but was lurking in some corner of the warehouse at a level that avoided inventory checks,
and somehow came to light for some reason,
but I don't think this is even a horizontal ENVE to begin with.
The sticker that should be around the valve hole isn't there for some reason.
Since horizontal ENVE stickers are obtainable,
this appears to be a diagonal EDGE or early batch horizontal EDGE
that had the sticker replaced to horizontal ENVE.
In the worst case interpretation that would be "counterfeit",
but I have a feeling it wasn't the wholesaler who did the relabeling, but the manufacturer.
If it was the manufacturer, something like "we found this rim by chance, we can't sell it as EDGE so let's
relabel it as ENVE" is plausible.
There's no reason for the wholesaler to go through that trouble.
There's no way there's a horizontal ENVE like you!!
You must be one of the King of Fist's henchmen
↑The 281g 25 in the back, and the 194g 25 in the front.
The thickness is completely different, man.
The 194g one is roughly the same thickness as the diagonal EDGE cut sample I have.
Well, the weight is similar too.
This rim will eventually be built into a 300-gram-range first-spec front wheel.
If you just want to pursue light weight, you could use Sapim CX Super,
but since EDGE/ENVE's dedicated nipples are 14mm threads and CX Super are 15mm threads,
and considering overall performance, CX-RAY seems better,
so it'll probably be built with black CX-RAY.
It's built.
Evorite hub (same as before the rebuild) 24H black semi-comp 4-cross build with spoke nipple wrapping.
This 25 was noticeably easier to build.
The tension went up smoothly without any hesitation.
I received a pair of front and rear wheels built with ENVE 25 rims from a customer.
Both wheels had extremely loose spoke tension, and it was so slack that even aging and drooping wouldn't account for it, so
either the original builder had a philosophy of loose builds or they were too timid to tension them properly
either way, they were built nice and puffy.
On the front wheel, aside from truing, I've done additional tightening,
tensioning all the nipples by more than a full rotation.
The rear wheel is an Evorite (Japanese hub brand) hub 24H all-black CX-RAY 4-cross build.
The spoke length on the freewheel side seems a bit too long...
By loosening the nipples almost completely around the rim and pulling them out from the rim,
here's a nipple that was never loosened at all.
If the front wheel's spoke length had been similar to this,
additional tightening would have been impossible as-is.
The tire was mounted with tubular tape,
but there's something that looks like rim cement stuck to the nipple.
When I touched it, it was grease. It's even gotten on the spoke threads.
I'm reusing the nipples, but I'm cleaning them very thoroughly with ultrasonic cleaning and degreasing.
This rim has the horizontal ENVE branding (more on that later),
and since the serial number is 7 digits, it seems to be a fairly late model.
The nominal weight of the final lot 25 is 250g, but
the actual measured weight is like this.
The "25-24" on the rim means "model name 25, 24-hole count",
but in the case of 45 or 65, the model name part becomes 1.45 or 1.65.
↑Like this
The 45 and 65 had deliberately heavier "2" models compared to the regular "1" model,
marketed for durability,
and were released for cyclocross and heavy riders,
in which case the rim marking would be 2.45 or 2.65.
What I'm getting at is,
there is no "2.25" model for the 25.
So the final late-period 25 model name is also "25", not "1.25".
In other words, this rim is just an individual variance issue within the spec 250g rim.
The EDGE~ENVE 25 can be divided into three types by the appearance of the sticker.
In the images above is the earliest diagonal EDGE, followed by horizontal EDGE,
and then the brand name changed to ENVE and it became horizontal ENVE.
The horizontal EDGE is the rear wheel from here, and by the way the front wheel is diagonal EDGE.
As for nominal weight, the diagonal EDGE is 195g,
the horizontal EDGE is 195g early on and 215g later,
and the horizontal ENVE is 215g early on and 250g later.
And our secret inventory includes a horizontal ENVE 25 20H rim, but
oddly the serial number is just 5 digits, which is very early.
This is the final inventory from ENVE's previous wholesaler,
the genuine last remaining unit,
but if we'd been following strict FIFO (first in, first out) inventory practice, a 5-digit rim wouldn't still be here.
It probably wasn't hidden away based on FIFO,
but was lurking in some corner of the warehouse at a level that avoided inventory checks,
and somehow came to light for some reason,
but I don't think this is even a horizontal ENVE to begin with.
The sticker that should be around the valve hole isn't there for some reason.
Since horizontal ENVE stickers are obtainable,
this appears to be a diagonal EDGE or early batch horizontal EDGE
that had the sticker replaced to horizontal ENVE.
In the worst case interpretation that would be "counterfeit",
but I have a feeling it wasn't the wholesaler who did the relabeling, but the manufacturer.
If it was the manufacturer, something like "we found this rim by chance, we can't sell it as EDGE so let's
relabel it as ENVE" is plausible.
There's no reason for the wholesaler to go through that trouble.
There's no way there's a horizontal ENVE like you!!
You must be one of the King of Fist's henchmen
↑The 281g 25 in the back, and the 194g 25 in the front.
The thickness is completely different, man.
The 194g one is roughly the same thickness as the diagonal EDGE cut sample I have.
Well, the weight is similar too.
This rim will eventually be built into a 300-gram-range first-spec front wheel.
If you just want to pursue light weight, you could use Sapim CX Super,
but since EDGE/ENVE's dedicated nipples are 14mm threads and CX Super are 15mm threads,
and considering overall performance, CX-RAY seems better,
so it'll probably be built with black CX-RAY.
It's built.
Evorite hub (same as before the rebuild) 24H black semi-comp 4-cross build with spoke nipple wrapping.
This 25 was noticeably easier to build.
The tension went up smoothly without any hesitation.