Another day with wheels (and so on).
A customer entrusted me with the rear wheel of a Tni Dragon complete wheelset.
The wheel model is listed as 35C Tubeless,
but the actual rim height is around 38mm.
This is because the earlier Dragon 35 model with tubular rim spec
had a 35mm tall rim.
Both Dragon models use this rear hub, but
first of all, the dimensions aren't great.
Compared to an Evolite hub, the left flange is set inward by about one flange thickness—
narrow flange design, plus it's radial lacing on the non-freewheel side.
This is unavoidable since it's a straight-gauge spoke hub.
The spokes where the tape is applied have lost tension,
and like Reynolds wheels, I often see nipple loosening on the non-freewheel side.
Even accounting for that, the non-freewheel side tension is quite slack,
and the customer said it would be fine to rebuild if I felt it necessary.
The rim is drifted to the right,
but I suspect this centering deviation came from looseness on the non-freewheel side spokes,
and the wheel probably wasn't off-center when it was originally built.
To correct this by tightening, you'd tighten the non-freewheel side,
but that won't transform it dramatically.
Apart from the seriously loose spoke areas,
the Dragon rear wheel has such slack non-freewheel side tension that I decided to rebuild it.
With a narrow flange, the apparent left-right tension difference should be smaller,
but there's still a considerable difference—probably because of the radial lacing on the non-freewheel side.
Speaking of narrow flanges,
Gokiso claims about their hub's narrow flange design that
"the left-right tension difference is reduced, so the balance is good," but
in their own complete wheelsets, they adopt
radial lacing on the non-freewheel side (which really makes no sense)
that actually widens the left-right tension difference,
and in their catalog they arbitrarily dismiss 2:1 lacing,
which can achieve nearly equal left-right tension differences.
Their understanding of wheels is all over the place.
When rebuilding, the customer asked me to weigh the rim.
Whether knowing the weight is reassuring is questionable, though...
Evolite hub, 24-hole, black half-comp... still haven't finished building it.
At the point of this photo, vertical runout is nearly zero, lateral runout is barely noticeable,
but the non-freewheel side tension is vastly tighter than before rebuilding.
But there's this much deliberate offset,
and from here to centering, almost entirely the non-freewheel side tensions up.
There's still subtle lateral runout, but no matter where I put the centering gauge,
this trend and amount doesn't change.
Irrelevant aside: "this trend and amount" was initially translated as "this fluorescent paint."
Done building.
I'll true the spokes later.
Of course, the centering is spot-on.
A customer entrusted me with the rear wheel of a Tni Dragon complete wheelset.
The wheel model is listed as 35C Tubeless,
but the actual rim height is around 38mm.
This is because the earlier Dragon 35 model with tubular rim spec
had a 35mm tall rim.
Both Dragon models use this rear hub, but
first of all, the dimensions aren't great.
Compared to an Evolite hub, the left flange is set inward by about one flange thickness—
narrow flange design, plus it's radial lacing on the non-freewheel side.
This is unavoidable since it's a straight-gauge spoke hub.
The spokes where the tape is applied have lost tension,
and like Reynolds wheels, I often see nipple loosening on the non-freewheel side.
Even accounting for that, the non-freewheel side tension is quite slack,
and the customer said it would be fine to rebuild if I felt it necessary.
The rim is drifted to the right,
but I suspect this centering deviation came from looseness on the non-freewheel side spokes,
and the wheel probably wasn't off-center when it was originally built.
To correct this by tightening, you'd tighten the non-freewheel side,
but that won't transform it dramatically.
Apart from the seriously loose spoke areas,
the Dragon rear wheel has such slack non-freewheel side tension that I decided to rebuild it.
With a narrow flange, the apparent left-right tension difference should be smaller,
but there's still a considerable difference—probably because of the radial lacing on the non-freewheel side.
Speaking of narrow flanges,
Gokiso claims about their hub's narrow flange design that
"the left-right tension difference is reduced, so the balance is good," but
in their own complete wheelsets, they adopt
radial lacing on the non-freewheel side (which really makes no sense)
that actually widens the left-right tension difference,
and in their catalog they arbitrarily dismiss 2:1 lacing,
which can achieve nearly equal left-right tension differences.
Their understanding of wheels is all over the place.
When rebuilding, the customer asked me to weigh the rim.
Whether knowing the weight is reassuring is questionable, though...
Evolite hub, 24-hole, black half-comp... still haven't finished building it.
At the point of this photo, vertical runout is nearly zero, lateral runout is barely noticeable,
but the non-freewheel side tension is vastly tighter than before rebuilding.
But there's this much deliberate offset,
and from here to centering, almost entirely the non-freewheel side tensions up.
There's still subtle lateral runout, but no matter where I put the centering gauge,
this trend and amount doesn't change.
Irrelevant aside: "this trend and amount" was initially translated as "this fluorescent paint."
Done building.
I'll true the spokes later.
Of course, the centering is spot-on.