Since I wrote about thinking through rear wheel spoke counts,
I'll take the chance to write about "front wheel spoke counts."
For example, a CX-RAY 32H front wheel would be 65×32 = 2080,
but that's nearly identical to a 20H front wheel built with CX or Champion
at 100×20 = 2000.
For the standard spec of Nomu Lab wheels,
a CX-RAY 20H front wheel comes to 1300,
and Shimano's CX-RAY equivalent spoke 16H front wheel works out to 1040,
but I've learned from experience that with 1300 spokes,
most of my customers don't express any particular complaints about stiffness.
That said, lately my personal front wheels are CX-RAY 24H,
and for 20H I've increasingly been building them with spokes
that have a higher spoke weight ratio than CX-RAY.
In certain situations those just feel better on the road.
HB-7700 24H - Actually a hub that forbids radial lacing,
but built CX-RAY outpoke radial
Black hub 20H Aerostar Bright II type outpoke radial lacing
The spoke weight ratio for Aerostar Bright is nominally a Meshinotanecode spec.
Unrelated to that reason,
the image above is Aerostar Bright II type with 254mm on top and 276mm on bottom.
With Sapim and DT flat spokes,
the plain section lengths at both ends outside the butted portion stay constant,
but with Star spokes these vary all over the place, so there's fluctuation in the spoke weight ratio decimals.
For front wheels like Racing 3 (16H) and Cosmic Elite (18H),
they use spokes with a larger spoke weight ratio than CX-RAY.
Even before that, both Campagnolo and Mavic
don't actually build wheels with indiscriminately thin spokes. Most people—excluding folks weighing 0.1 tons—don't find them flabby,
which speaks to how well the spoke count judgment is done, both in spoke weight and spoke number.
That's because 16H is obviously a concern, but 18H too
is a dangerously marginal spoke count for building a front wheel with hooded spokes compared to 20H.
It's the same with straight gauge spoke adoption, but factory-built wheels also engineer reinforcements like thickening the rim only around the spoke holes—
details not found in generic materials.
A front wheel under 20H on a factory-built wheel is a different beast from a hand-built one.
If Racing 3 came in tubular, I'd really want just the front wheel.
Among Campagnolo factory-built wheels, there's one exception
that uses CX-RAY equivalent spokes.
That's the Neutron Ultra.
The 22H spoke count is unique—outside of Neutron, it's only used on
the other low-profile rim models: Neucrion, Electron,
Proton, and Hyperion.
Maybe there was internal debate: "20H is a bit light... but 24H feels like overkill...
and it's radial lacing anyway, so one side being odd-numbered is fine..." that sort of thing.
The other day I tried to buy just a front wheel
(WO rim would be fine) and went to order from the Japanese distributor
who knows Campagnolo best, but got told it's impossible.
Breaking down the individual part number:
the front wheel is WH7-NECFU
WH (wheel)
7 (first released 2007)
NE (Neutron)
C (clincher)
F (front)
U (Ultra)
The order isn't WH7-NEUCF
because U (Ultra) was a spec added later.
The Campagnolo freebody rear wheel is
WH7-NECRU,
but with Shimano freebody
it becomes WH13-NEAUX1U.
It's 13 because from 2013 it switched to Shimano 11S freebody,
and the X1 in the part number indicates Shimano freebody spec.
From 2015, Campagnolo released white aluminum Shimano freebody versions,
but before that the steel Shimano 11S freebody part number was FH-BUU015X1
and the white aluminum freebody was FH-BO015X1.
The current Bora Ultra 80 (tubular spec only)
still has a narrow rim,
and the rear wheel part number for its Shimano freebody is
WH15-BOTRX180, meaning
15 (first released 2015)
BO (Bora)
T (tubular)
R (rear)
X1 (Shimano freebody)
80 (80mm deep rim)
The cataloging lists it as 2015 model,
but it was announced as an addition in late 2014,
so the Bora Ultra 80 with Shimano freebody has the older steel type installed.
The current Bora One 35 clincher spec
with Shimano freebody (white aluminum spec) rear wheel
has part number WH18-BOCRX11135, meaning
18 (first released 2018)
BO (Bora)
C (clincher)
R (rear)
X1 (Shimano freebody)
1 (Bora One—if it were Ultra, instead of a U there would be no 1)
35 (35mm deep rim)
What I'm getting at is:
the fact that the Neutron Shimano freebody rear wheel part number starts with WH13
confirms that the 11S freebody is definitely steel.
I checked and that's what it turned out to be.
Anyway, the fact that they've cut individual sales at this point
suggests there's a good chance this model gets discontinued in 2020.
Hyperion's already discontinued...
Hmm, what to do. I really just want a front wheel, or more specifically,
just a front hub and front rim.
I'll take the chance to write about "front wheel spoke counts."
For example, a CX-RAY 32H front wheel would be 65×32 = 2080,
but that's nearly identical to a 20H front wheel built with CX or Champion
at 100×20 = 2000.
For the standard spec of Nomu Lab wheels,
a CX-RAY 20H front wheel comes to 1300,
and Shimano's CX-RAY equivalent spoke 16H front wheel works out to 1040,
but I've learned from experience that with 1300 spokes,
most of my customers don't express any particular complaints about stiffness.
That said, lately my personal front wheels are CX-RAY 24H,
and for 20H I've increasingly been building them with spokes
that have a higher spoke weight ratio than CX-RAY.
In certain situations those just feel better on the road.
HB-7700 24H - Actually a hub that forbids radial lacing,
but built CX-RAY outpoke radial
Black hub 20H Aerostar Bright II type outpoke radial lacing
The spoke weight ratio for Aerostar Bright is nominally a Meshinotanecode spec.
Unrelated to that reason,
the image above is Aerostar Bright II type with 254mm on top and 276mm on bottom.
With Sapim and DT flat spokes,
the plain section lengths at both ends outside the butted portion stay constant,
but with Star spokes these vary all over the place, so there's fluctuation in the spoke weight ratio decimals.
For front wheels like Racing 3 (16H) and Cosmic Elite (18H),
they use spokes with a larger spoke weight ratio than CX-RAY.
Even before that, both Campagnolo and Mavic
don't actually build wheels with indiscriminately thin spokes. Most people—
which speaks to how well the spoke count judgment is done, both in spoke weight and spoke number.
That's because 16H is obviously a concern, but 18H too
is a dangerously marginal spoke count for building a front wheel with hooded spokes compared to 20H.
It's the same with straight gauge spoke adoption, but factory-built wheels also engineer reinforcements like thickening the rim only around the spoke holes—
details not found in generic materials.
A front wheel under 20H on a factory-built wheel is a different beast from a hand-built one.
If Racing 3 came in tubular, I'd really want just the front wheel.
Among Campagnolo factory-built wheels, there's one exception
that uses CX-RAY equivalent spokes.
That's the Neutron Ultra.
The 22H spoke count is unique—outside of Neutron, it's only used on
the other low-profile rim models: Neucrion, Electron,
Proton, and Hyperion.
Maybe there was internal debate: "20H is a bit light... but 24H feels like overkill...
and it's radial lacing anyway, so one side being odd-numbered is fine..." that sort of thing.
The other day I tried to buy just a front wheel
(WO rim would be fine) and went to order from the Japanese distributor
who knows Campagnolo best, but got told it's impossible.
Breaking down the individual part number:
the front wheel is WH7-NECFU
WH (wheel)
7 (first released 2007)
NE (Neutron)
C (clincher)
F (front)
U (Ultra)
The order isn't WH7-NEUCF
because U (Ultra) was a spec added later.
The Campagnolo freebody rear wheel is
WH7-NECRU,
but with Shimano freebody
it becomes WH13-NEAUX1U.
It's 13 because from 2013 it switched to Shimano 11S freebody,
and the X1 in the part number indicates Shimano freebody spec.
From 2015, Campagnolo released white aluminum Shimano freebody versions,
but before that the steel Shimano 11S freebody part number was FH-BUU015X1
and the white aluminum freebody was FH-BO015X1.
The current Bora Ultra 80 (tubular spec only)
still has a narrow rim,
and the rear wheel part number for its Shimano freebody is
WH15-BOTRX180, meaning
15 (first released 2015)
BO (Bora)
T (tubular)
R (rear)
X1 (Shimano freebody)
80 (80mm deep rim)
The cataloging lists it as 2015 model,
but it was announced as an addition in late 2014,
so the Bora Ultra 80 with Shimano freebody has the older steel type installed.
The current Bora One 35 clincher spec
with Shimano freebody (white aluminum spec) rear wheel
has part number WH18-BOCRX11135, meaning
18 (first released 2018)
BO (Bora)
C (clincher)
R (rear)
X1 (Shimano freebody)
1 (Bora One—if it were Ultra, instead of a U there would be no 1)
35 (35mm deep rim)
What I'm getting at is:
the fact that the Neutron Shimano freebody rear wheel part number starts with WH13
confirms that the 11S freebody is definitely steel.
I checked and that's what it turned out to be.
Anyway, the fact that they've cut individual sales at this point
suggests there's a good chance this model gets discontinued in 2020.
Hyperion's already discontinued...
Hmm, what to do. I really just want a front wheel, or more specifically,
just a front hub and front rim.