Another day of wheel building (and so on).
A customer left me a rear wheel built with HED Belgium rims.
Chris King R45 hub, 24H, black, CX-RAY, 4-cross reverse Italian lacing.
This isn't about that wheel, but the other day I received a comment asking
"Why are there wheels laced in reverse Italian?",
and I (or many predecessors) think "Reverse Italian lacing seems to have less drag when the freewheel body is tightened",
so that's why we do it. For example, if you built 100 or 1000 rear wheels each
with Italian and reverse Italian lacing under identical conditions,
I have no concrete data or evidence showing that reverse Italian lacing
had more loose nipples or spoke breakage or anything like that.
Separately from that, what is clear is that
reverse Italian lacing is less likely to bend spokes during chain drops.
To be precise, when the final cross is woven.
If the reason for Italian lacing is
just "reverse Italian lacing is kind of gross" or something vague like that,
then reverse Italian lacing—which has the clear advantage
of being stronger against chain drops—would be better, or so
the reverse Italian lacing camp thinks (probably),
but I do Italian lacing because "reverse Italian lacing is kind of gross"
more than anything else.
Rather than worrying about chain drop damage,
I choose the lacing method that seems to resist
freewheel body twist more (just seems to),
and when you weigh the relative importance of these factors,
I think that's the better approach.
If a customer desired reverse Italian lacing, I'd do that.
That's about all there is to it.
Despite saying "that's about all", I'm still re-lacing this rear wheel to Italian.
Also, my rule of thumb that mainly Americans do reverse Italian lacing
held true again this time.
Apparently this rear wheel was bought online from America.
Though I'm only using the hub.
Built it.
The rim is a tubeless-compatible 30mm high carbon rim.
Apparently it was purchased from a brand that also runs online shops,
but it's a special spec rim not normally made by that brand.
That's made the wheel build quite a headache (more on that later).
The rim's actual weight was about 30g heavier than the claimed weight,
so I told them to remake it or send one that matches the claimed weight.
At first they hemmed and hawed, and when I didn't budge even when they offered
"Rim price, two thousand yen discount, OK?", they managed to
prepare one with the correct claimed weight within three days.
Oh that's scary (which one is scary is a secret).
Semi-comp 4-cross Italian lacing with spoke windup.
Built the front wheel too.
Chris King R45 front hub, 20H, CX-RAY, anti-spoke radial lacing.
This hub was prepared separately by the customer in the same color as the rear hub.
I forgot to mention, but both wheels have orange aluminum nipples,
and since DT doesn't have this color, I used Sapim 12mm.
This rim has no holes on the outer perimeter besides the valve hole,
so the temporary build is an absolute pain.
A customer left me a rear wheel built with HED Belgium rims.
Chris King R45 hub, 24H, black, CX-RAY, 4-cross reverse Italian lacing.
This isn't about that wheel, but the other day I received a comment asking
"Why are there wheels laced in reverse Italian?",
and I (or many predecessors) think "Reverse Italian lacing seems to have less drag when the freewheel body is tightened",
so that's why we do it. For example, if you built 100 or 1000 rear wheels each
with Italian and reverse Italian lacing under identical conditions,
I have no concrete data or evidence showing that reverse Italian lacing
had more loose nipples or spoke breakage or anything like that.
Separately from that, what is clear is that
reverse Italian lacing is less likely to bend spokes during chain drops.
To be precise, when the final cross is woven.
If the reason for Italian lacing is
just "reverse Italian lacing is kind of gross" or something vague like that,
then reverse Italian lacing—which has the clear advantage
of being stronger against chain drops—would be better, or so
the reverse Italian lacing camp thinks (probably),
but I do Italian lacing because "reverse Italian lacing is kind of gross"
more than anything else.
Rather than worrying about chain drop damage,
I choose the lacing method that seems to resist
freewheel body twist more (just seems to),
and when you weigh the relative importance of these factors,
I think that's the better approach.
If a customer desired reverse Italian lacing, I'd do that.
That's about all there is to it.
Despite saying "that's about all", I'm still re-lacing this rear wheel to Italian.
Also, my rule of thumb that mainly Americans do reverse Italian lacing
held true again this time.
Apparently this rear wheel was bought online from America.
Though I'm only using the hub.
Built it.
The rim is a tubeless-compatible 30mm high carbon rim.
Apparently it was purchased from a brand that also runs online shops,
but it's a special spec rim not normally made by that brand.
That's made the wheel build quite a headache (more on that later).
The rim's actual weight was about 30g heavier than the claimed weight,
so I told them to remake it or send one that matches the claimed weight.
At first they hemmed and hawed, and when I didn't budge even when they offered
"Rim price, two thousand yen discount, OK?", they managed to
prepare one with the correct claimed weight within three days.
Oh that's scary (which one is scary is a secret).
Semi-comp 4-cross Italian lacing with spoke windup.
Built the front wheel too.
Chris King R45 front hub, 20H, CX-RAY, anti-spoke radial lacing.
This hub was prepared separately by the customer in the same color as the rear hub.
I forgot to mention, but both wheels have orange aluminum nipples,
and since DT doesn't have this color, I used Sapim 12mm.
This rim has no holes on the outer perimeter besides the valve hole,
so the temporary build is an absolute pain.