Another day of wheels (and so on).
A customer brought in the rear wheel from a Smart Envision System 7.8 (SES 7.8).
The customer said it "feels like it flexes quite a bit during standing climbs,"
but basically they're saying it's sloppy and they want it rebuilt.
Since it's nearly the latest spec, the brake zone has a file-textured finish,
and carbon rims with file-textured brake zones squeak loudly when the brake shoes touch them, which makes it even more noticeable.
Pretty much all rims like that are wide rims,
so you can't set the brake shoe clearance wide
(and even less so with direct-mount brakes),
which makes squeaking more likely to happen.
It's likely made in-house by the manufacturer,
but it's a Cris King R45 hub, 24H, all-black CX-RAY 4x4 reverse Italian lacing.
The non-drive side is sloppy, but...
The rim was shifted quite a bit toward the non-drive side.
This is just speculation, but I think
because the non-drive side was sloppy,
someone tightened it further afterward.
I didn't take photos for an article and didn't write about it,
but just the other day I inspected a factory-assembled SES 2.2 complete wheel (DT 240S hub),
and the rear wheel had abnormally severe radial runout—
it took a lot of time to get it right.
That kind of thing does happen,
but I've never seen an SES off-the-shelf wheel this far out of center before.
I wrote earlier that this wheel is "nearly" the latest spec, but...
Actually, I've got the front wheel too.
For inspection and also for a very tedious task request, separate from that.
On this front wheel, when viewed from the right side, the sticker next to the valve hole
says "Handmade in USA,"
and the opposite side has a serial number.
On the rear wheel, the right side has the serial number.
So when rebuilding, I'll flip the rim left-to-right.
In the latest specs, they've stopped including the serial number
on the valve hole sticker.
Since the rim itself is the same, it's "nearly" the latest spec.
I put some tape on as a reference mark for a particular purpose,
but it turned out to be my mistake, so it doesn't mean anything now.
SES rims are basically only 20H front and 24H rear,
but until recently, the taller rim models
had a 18/20H front-and-rear spec.
Currently, including this SES 7.8 and the SES 8.9 (which isn't officially sold in Japan),
all rim-brake road wheels are 20/24H front and rear.
I thought this rear wheel was 20H, so when converting
from all CX-RAY 4x4 lacing to semi-Campagnolo 4x3 lacing,
I planned to reuse the non-drive-side spokes,
and to distinguish between straight and crossed spokes,
I thought I wouldn't pull the spokes out of the flanges at all,
and since I'm switching from reverse Italian to Italian lacing,
I wanted to show where and how the non-drive-side spoke (crossed spoke) next to the valve hole
would end up after the rebuild.
In reality, it's 24H, so the drive side needs a gauge change and the non-drive side needs a length change,
so both sides get new spokes.
This CX-RAY is a custom product with the plain section on the rim side
square-profiled—it was once mistakenly delivered to a Japanese distributor
as standard stock (only black 280mm).
The problem is, you can't trim this with a spoke cutter.
I carefully disassembled it, keeping only the four spokes next to the valve hole.
The drive side had the spoke end flush with the nipple end,
while the non-drive side stuck out about two threads (in the image above).
If this rear wheel were 20H and half-Campagnolo laced,
I'd need to tighten it more than that, but since modification isn't possible,
it would have needed to be rebuilt with standard black CX-RAY.
Either way, the spokes needed replacement.
It's built.
The "Handmade in USA" side is on the right, and
24H, black semi-Campagnolo 4x6 Italian lacing.
I'll tie the spokes later.
The rear hub is the same before and after rebuild, and the spoke gauge on the non-drive side is also the same,
yet before the rebuild the center was offset (laughs)
to tension the non-drive side hard,
but now that the center is straight after the rebuild,
the non-drive-side tension is clearly higher.
The spokes aren't tied yet, so this is without tying.
Near the valve hole
Near the opposite side of the valve hole
About that "very tedious task" I mentioned—
the customer wants to switch to rim tape and needs the rim cement removed.
Ugh... my fingers are going to die.
Near the valve hole
Near the opposite side of the valve hole (where the balloon hole was sealed)
I did the rear wheel when the rim was bare.
I haven't done the front wheel yet. Ugh... my fingers are going to die.
A customer brought in the rear wheel from a Smart Envision System 7.8 (SES 7.8).
The customer said it "feels like it flexes quite a bit during standing climbs,"
but basically they're saying it's sloppy and they want it rebuilt.
Since it's nearly the latest spec, the brake zone has a file-textured finish,
and carbon rims with file-textured brake zones squeak loudly when the brake shoes touch them, which makes it even more noticeable.
Pretty much all rims like that are wide rims,
so you can't set the brake shoe clearance wide
(and even less so with direct-mount brakes),
which makes squeaking more likely to happen.
It's likely made in-house by the manufacturer,
but it's a Cris King R45 hub, 24H, all-black CX-RAY 4x4 reverse Italian lacing.
The non-drive side is sloppy, but...
The rim was shifted quite a bit toward the non-drive side.
This is just speculation, but I think
because the non-drive side was sloppy,
someone tightened it further afterward.
I didn't take photos for an article and didn't write about it,
but just the other day I inspected a factory-assembled SES 2.2 complete wheel (DT 240S hub),
and the rear wheel had abnormally severe radial runout—
it took a lot of time to get it right.
That kind of thing does happen,
but I've never seen an SES off-the-shelf wheel this far out of center before.
I wrote earlier that this wheel is "nearly" the latest spec, but...
Actually, I've got the front wheel too.
For inspection and also for a very tedious task request, separate from that.
On this front wheel, when viewed from the right side, the sticker next to the valve hole
says "Handmade in USA,"
and the opposite side has a serial number.
On the rear wheel, the right side has the serial number.
So when rebuilding, I'll flip the rim left-to-right.
In the latest specs, they've stopped including the serial number
on the valve hole sticker.
Since the rim itself is the same, it's "nearly" the latest spec.
I put some tape on as a reference mark for a particular purpose,
but it turned out to be my mistake, so it doesn't mean anything now.
SES rims are basically only 20H front and 24H rear,
but until recently, the taller rim models
had a 18/20H front-and-rear spec.
Currently, including this SES 7.8 and the SES 8.9 (which isn't officially sold in Japan),
all rim-brake road wheels are 20/24H front and rear.
I thought this rear wheel was 20H, so when converting
from all CX-RAY 4x4 lacing to semi-Campagnolo 4x3 lacing,
I planned to reuse the non-drive-side spokes,
and to distinguish between straight and crossed spokes,
I thought I wouldn't pull the spokes out of the flanges at all,
and since I'm switching from reverse Italian to Italian lacing,
I wanted to show where and how the non-drive-side spoke (crossed spoke) next to the valve hole
would end up after the rebuild.
In reality, it's 24H, so the drive side needs a gauge change and the non-drive side needs a length change,
so both sides get new spokes.
This CX-RAY is a custom product with the plain section on the rim side
square-profiled—it was once mistakenly delivered to a Japanese distributor
as standard stock (only black 280mm).
The problem is, you can't trim this with a spoke cutter.
I carefully disassembled it, keeping only the four spokes next to the valve hole.
The drive side had the spoke end flush with the nipple end,
while the non-drive side stuck out about two threads (in the image above).
If this rear wheel were 20H and half-Campagnolo laced,
I'd need to tighten it more than that, but since modification isn't possible,
it would have needed to be rebuilt with standard black CX-RAY.
Either way, the spokes needed replacement.
It's built.
The "Handmade in USA" side is on the right, and
24H, black semi-Campagnolo 4x6 Italian lacing.
I'll tie the spokes later.
The rear hub is the same before and after rebuild, and the spoke gauge on the non-drive side is also the same,
yet before the rebuild the center was offset (laughs)
to tension the non-drive side hard,
but now that the center is straight after the rebuild,
the non-drive-side tension is clearly higher.
The spokes aren't tied yet, so this is without tying.
Near the valve hole
Near the opposite side of the valve hole
About that "very tedious task" I mentioned—
the customer wants to switch to rim tape and needs the rim cement removed.
Ugh... my fingers are going to die.
Near the valve hole
Near the opposite side of the valve hole (where the balloon hole was sealed)
I did the rear wheel when the rim was bare.
I haven't done the front wheel yet. Ugh... my fingers are going to die.