I received a front wheel built with a Sansin hub from a customer.
32 holes, and the rim is
an Ambrosio Formula Crono 20.
The "CRONO" lettering is from an era when it was painted on rather than laser-etched.
If you try to remove rim cement or dirt using acetone,
there's a risk it will peel off, so I can't use that.
32 holes, 6-cross Italian pattern... or so it should be.
Based on the rim orientation, it is Italian pattern,
but the quick-release is attached to the right side, which is unusual.
The spokes are from Sachetti, an Italian manufacturer, and they were very magnetic.
The customer didn't know what this hub actually was,
but it's a Sansin (三信) Micro Light Hub.
It's one of the earliest hubs to adopt sealed bearings,
and the bearing size uses the standard 6901,
with the brand being Nachi (Nachi Fujikoshi Corporation, not the Nazi party).
By the way, I myself am a fan of Nachi drill bits.
Since rear hubs sometimes come as freewheel types or are MTB-spec with 135mm width,
this front hub is probably what survived.
There should be "Sansin Micro Light" marked on the hub shell,
but it had faded away.
There was evidence that this is a Sansin hub on the quick-release lever.
This is because the same hub was also sold under the Suntour brand,
so if the hub shell markings are gone,
it's impossible to identify which one you have.
The tire was a Clement Solo. How nostalgic!
As far as I know, the last professional rider I'm aware of using this tire
was Laurent Jalabert of ONCE Team in 1997.
It was a team mechanic or Jalabert's personal secret stock,
and it was already discontinued by that time.
After disassembling the wheel,
I cleaned the hub.
By the way, this is the Suntour version of the Micro Light Hub, but
without the logo, you can't tell them apart.
I got it built.
Micro Light Hub 32 holes, CX-RAY 4-cross Italian pattern, and
the rim is a Mavic GL330.
This is the rear wheel rim that the customer entrusted to me at the same time as the front wheel.
Since the Crono 20 is better suited for a rear rim in terms of spoke tension resistance and buckling resistance,
I'm using this one for the front rim.
However, when actually tensioning it, lighter rims like the GEL280
or Revolution, which has the same spoke-to-weight ratio as the CX-RAY,
would be impossible to tension to the point I was able to achieve,
so I didn't get the impression that this is such a weak rim.
Going back in time, here's the rear wheel when I received it.
It's a Shimano 600 (the predecessor to Altegra, and the predecessor to 600 Altegra)
freebody hub, 32 holes, 6-cross Italian pattern.
The quick-release is also attached in reverse,
but since the rear wheel is Italian pattern, they probably built the front wheel as Italian pattern too.
Regarding the anodizing, it's the "650W marking" type.
Also, while rebuilding, I cleaned the rim nicely.
The spokes are stainless steel from DT Swiss and show no magnetic reaction whatsoever.
For some reason, there was evidence of an attempted lacing in one spot only.
I'll be building the matching rear wheel with the Crono 20 rim,
but that will be another day.
32 holes, and the rim is
an Ambrosio Formula Crono 20.
The "CRONO" lettering is from an era when it was painted on rather than laser-etched.
If you try to remove rim cement or dirt using acetone,
there's a risk it will peel off, so I can't use that.
32 holes, 6-cross Italian pattern... or so it should be.
Based on the rim orientation, it is Italian pattern,
but the quick-release is attached to the right side, which is unusual.
The spokes are from Sachetti, an Italian manufacturer, and they were very magnetic.
The customer didn't know what this hub actually was,
but it's a Sansin (三信) Micro Light Hub.
It's one of the earliest hubs to adopt sealed bearings,
and the bearing size uses the standard 6901,
with the brand being Nachi (Nachi Fujikoshi Corporation, not the Nazi party).
By the way, I myself am a fan of Nachi drill bits.
Since rear hubs sometimes come as freewheel types or are MTB-spec with 135mm width,
this front hub is probably what survived.
There should be "Sansin Micro Light" marked on the hub shell,
but it had faded away.
There was evidence that this is a Sansin hub on the quick-release lever.
This is because the same hub was also sold under the Suntour brand,
so if the hub shell markings are gone,
it's impossible to identify which one you have.
The tire was a Clement Solo. How nostalgic!
As far as I know, the last professional rider I'm aware of using this tire
was Laurent Jalabert of ONCE Team in 1997.
It was a team mechanic or Jalabert's personal secret stock,
and it was already discontinued by that time.
After disassembling the wheel,
I cleaned the hub.
By the way, this is the Suntour version of the Micro Light Hub, but
without the logo, you can't tell them apart.
I got it built.
Micro Light Hub 32 holes, CX-RAY 4-cross Italian pattern, and
the rim is a Mavic GL330.
This is the rear wheel rim that the customer entrusted to me at the same time as the front wheel.
Since the Crono 20 is better suited for a rear rim in terms of spoke tension resistance and buckling resistance,
I'm using this one for the front rim.
However, when actually tensioning it, lighter rims like the GEL280
or Revolution, which has the same spoke-to-weight ratio as the CX-RAY,
would be impossible to tension to the point I was able to achieve,
so I didn't get the impression that this is such a weak rim.
Going back in time, here's the rear wheel when I received it.
It's a Shimano 600 (the predecessor to Altegra, and the predecessor to 600 Altegra)
freebody hub, 32 holes, 6-cross Italian pattern.
The quick-release is also attached in reverse,
but since the rear wheel is Italian pattern, they probably built the front wheel as Italian pattern too.
Regarding the anodizing, it's the "650W marking" type.
Also, while rebuilding, I cleaned the rim nicely.
The spokes are stainless steel from DT Swiss and show no magnetic reaction whatsoever.
For some reason, there was evidence of an attempted lacing in one spot only.
I'll be building the matching rear wheel with the Crono 20 rim,
but that will be another day.