Well, another wheel build day (and so forth).
A customer brought in the front wheel of Nomu Lab Wheel #1 for repair.
Leaf hub 20H black CX-RAY counter-radial spoke pattern
with black aluminum nipples,
but assembled with Sapim 14mm length nipples (which came with the black CX-RAY).
I'd guess this is from around 2014 (the Leaf hub first appeared in November 2013),
but by that time we shouldn't have been using Sapim nipples,
so there must have been some reason—like DT black nipples running out of stock or something.
The reason for bringing it in was
that recurring punctures started happening
at the same location, slightly away from the valve hole.
In the image above, the hole on the left is the valve hole,
and white oxidation is appearing due to the potential difference with the brass valve,
but that's common and not really a problem in itself.
I had trouble getting a clear shot of it,
but near the rim hole adjacent to the valve hole,
one side of the bead hook was subtly warped,
and the hook edge had become sharp.
↑The red marking shows the deformed section,
and it appears to be causing damage like this.
There was a hole in the tire.
With the label centered on the valve hole,
the hole location matches up with the deformed section of the bead hook.
This is the tube that was in that tire.
It was installed to repair a puncture and isn't punctured itself, but
there are marks showing it was protruding from the tire hole.
On its own, you might think the tire hole came first from some chance tear,
and the tube puncture was a consequence, making the rim's bead hook irrelevant,
but
the customer brought a piece of a tube that punctured with the same pattern,
which convinced me the problem was on the rim side.
If the tube punctured from protruding out of the tire hole,
it would typically burst rather than tear like this,
and since the puncture location on the tube matches the deformed section of the bead hook,
coincidence is basically out of the question.
So we decided on a rim replacement. But
white oxidation was flaking out of the spoke holes,
and the nipples had become abnormally difficult to unscrew.
Sapim nipples have a much higher frequency and severity of this issue compared to DT,
which is one of the reasons I don't use Sapim aluminum nipples
(despite them coming with the CX-RAY).
I planned to just swap rims, but
since the nipples wouldn't loosen easily, I ended up disassembling it completely.
So technically "another wheel build day" holds up.
All built up.
It wasn't originally planned, but I also replaced the spokes.
And I've switched the nipples to DT 12mm aluminum nipples,
so basically everything except the hub got replaced.
There's a mysterious sticker on the left side of the rim, which
is because the old rim had a "this is the left side" sticker on it.
The Gran Prix 4000 S II tire that was installed has directional markings,
but the Leaf hub has no printed marks on its body,
and the rim has no serial numbers,
so the wheel itself has no left/right attribute.
Maybe that sticker should have been applied after mounting the tire instead.
A customer brought in the front wheel of Nomu Lab Wheel #1 for repair.
Leaf hub 20H black CX-RAY counter-radial spoke pattern
with black aluminum nipples,
but assembled with Sapim 14mm length nipples (which came with the black CX-RAY).
I'd guess this is from around 2014 (the Leaf hub first appeared in November 2013),
but by that time we shouldn't have been using Sapim nipples,
so there must have been some reason—like DT black nipples running out of stock or something.
The reason for bringing it in was
that recurring punctures started happening
at the same location, slightly away from the valve hole.
In the image above, the hole on the left is the valve hole,
and white oxidation is appearing due to the potential difference with the brass valve,
but that's common and not really a problem in itself.
I had trouble getting a clear shot of it,
but near the rim hole adjacent to the valve hole,
one side of the bead hook was subtly warped,
and the hook edge had become sharp.
↑The red marking shows the deformed section,
and it appears to be causing damage like this.
There was a hole in the tire.
With the label centered on the valve hole,
the hole location matches up with the deformed section of the bead hook.
This is the tube that was in that tire.
It was installed to repair a puncture and isn't punctured itself, but
there are marks showing it was protruding from the tire hole.
On its own, you might think the tire hole came first from some chance tear,
and the tube puncture was a consequence, making the rim's bead hook irrelevant,
but
the customer brought a piece of a tube that punctured with the same pattern,
which convinced me the problem was on the rim side.
If the tube punctured from protruding out of the tire hole,
it would typically burst rather than tear like this,
and since the puncture location on the tube matches the deformed section of the bead hook,
coincidence is basically out of the question.
So we decided on a rim replacement. But
white oxidation was flaking out of the spoke holes,
and the nipples had become abnormally difficult to unscrew.
Sapim nipples have a much higher frequency and severity of this issue compared to DT,
which is one of the reasons I don't use Sapim aluminum nipples
(despite them coming with the CX-RAY).
I planned to just swap rims, but
since the nipples wouldn't loosen easily, I ended up disassembling it completely.
So technically "another wheel build day" holds up.
All built up.
It wasn't originally planned, but I also replaced the spokes.
And I've switched the nipples to DT 12mm aluminum nipples,
so basically everything except the hub got replaced.
There's a mysterious sticker on the left side of the rim, which
is because the old rim had a "this is the left side" sticker on it.
The Gran Prix 4000 S II tire that was installed has directional markings,
but the Leaf hub has no printed marks on its body,
and the rim has no serial numbers,
so the wheel itself has no left/right attribute.
Maybe that sticker should have been applied after mounting the tire instead.