Wheel work again today (and so on).
I received a rear wheel with a ZIPP 808 tubular rim from a customer.
ZIPP V7 188 hub, 20H — can't be converted to 11-speed.
All-black CX-RAY in a zero-cross lacing pattern.
The customer wants to rebuild this rear wheel with an 11-speed hub.
The spokes have Sapim markings on them, and
the nipples are Sapim 14mm black aluminum nipples.
Once I let the tension out across the board,
the flange ring that was being held open by spoke tension comes off.
I sequentially unhook the freewheel-side spokes, and
from this state (with the wheel laid on its side), if I
shake the hub up and down...
The non-freewheel side also has a snap-fit flange,
so I can pull the hub straight out of the wheel.
This rim had washers in it — a pre-modern design.
Dividing them into groups of four makes it easier to keep count visually.
Five pairs means twenty washers total.
Since this is factory-built stock, I didn't see a single washer that was deformed from being installed backward — something you'd definitely expect on hand-laced wheels.
Hand-laced wheels installed wrong (→here)
So I got it torn down, but the spoke length I need for reassembly is right at the edge of our regular stock, so I'll have to order it.
So I'm doing the front wheel first.
It's a 404 tubular, but it's the same generation as the 808 rear wheel and has matching decal colors.
I'm not sure if they were sold as a pair or if the customer matched them up himself.
It's built with Sapim 14mm aluminum nipples, but
in one spot there was a 12mm brass nipple.
This front wheel is 16H, but the 303 front at 18H and the
404 front at 16H seem a bit spoke-sparse, even accounting for rim depth.
ZIPP front wheels from this era
use straight spokes and CX-RAY to boot, so
spoke breakage pretty much never happens, but nipple breakage is something I see pretty often.
Once nipple breakage starts, it tends to happen frequently afterward, so
if using aluminum nipples, DT 12mm works,
and if you want to be extra careful, rebuilding with brass nipples
will significantly reduce the chance of breakage.
A past concrete example of a similar issue (→here),
and the bike that has it on (→here)
Hardly any runout, but the centering is off, I tell ya.
Oh no, that's a 3.4mm nipple!
A 3.2mm nipple wrench won't fit in it.
I see a lot of examples — outside our shop too — where 3.4mm nipples are used as a makeshift repair
on wheels with 3.2mm flats on the nipple wrench grip,
and the scary part is that other 3.2mm nipples often get rounded out
by 3.4mm tools being used on them.
This one didn't have any of that problem, but
since I'm completely replacing all the Sapim 14mm aluminum nipples anyway,
it doesn't matter if they're rounded or not (though unrounded is easier to disassemble).
On the front wheel, only the washer on the rim hole that had been repaired with a brass nipple
was deformed because tension was applied while it was slightly misaligned.
This is a Sapim part, not ZIPP, and we have it in stock, so I'm replacing it.
Built.
DT 12mm black aluminum nipples.
↑This is the split lock nut on the left-side end that has bearing adjustment functionality,
and because it has a streamlined shape,
when fixing it to the fork, you point the rounded side forward
and the pointed side backward for aerodynamic advantage.
↑The pointed side (the one facing backward)
When you adjust the bearing play,
the phase relationship between the hub axle and the end nut is not fixed, so
On the right end side
you install a part identical to the left-side end nut, except it has no bearing adjustment functionality and no threads cut,
orienting it the same way as the left side.
In the original state, the left and right orientation of this piece was all mixed up.
I received a rear wheel with a ZIPP 808 tubular rim from a customer.
ZIPP V7 188 hub, 20H — can't be converted to 11-speed.
All-black CX-RAY in a zero-cross lacing pattern.
The customer wants to rebuild this rear wheel with an 11-speed hub.
The spokes have Sapim markings on them, and
the nipples are Sapim 14mm black aluminum nipples.
Once I let the tension out across the board,
the flange ring that was being held open by spoke tension comes off.
I sequentially unhook the freewheel-side spokes, and
from this state (with the wheel laid on its side), if I
shake the hub up and down...
The non-freewheel side also has a snap-fit flange,
so I can pull the hub straight out of the wheel.
This rim had washers in it — a pre-modern design.
Dividing them into groups of four makes it easier to keep count visually.
Five pairs means twenty washers total.
Since this is factory-built stock, I didn't see a single washer that was deformed from being installed backward — something you'd definitely expect on hand-laced wheels.
Hand-laced wheels installed wrong (→here)
So I got it torn down, but the spoke length I need for reassembly is right at the edge of our regular stock, so I'll have to order it.
So I'm doing the front wheel first.
It's a 404 tubular, but it's the same generation as the 808 rear wheel and has matching decal colors.
I'm not sure if they were sold as a pair or if the customer matched them up himself.
It's built with Sapim 14mm aluminum nipples, but
in one spot there was a 12mm brass nipple.
This front wheel is 16H, but the 303 front at 18H and the
404 front at 16H seem a bit spoke-sparse, even accounting for rim depth.
ZIPP front wheels from this era
use straight spokes and CX-RAY to boot, so
spoke breakage pretty much never happens, but nipple breakage is something I see pretty often.
Once nipple breakage starts, it tends to happen frequently afterward, so
if using aluminum nipples, DT 12mm works,
and if you want to be extra careful, rebuilding with brass nipples
will significantly reduce the chance of breakage.
A past concrete example of a similar issue (→here),
and the bike that has it on (→here)
Hardly any runout, but the centering is off, I tell ya.
Oh no, that's a 3.4mm nipple!
A 3.2mm nipple wrench won't fit in it.
I see a lot of examples — outside our shop too — where 3.4mm nipples are used as a makeshift repair
on wheels with 3.2mm flats on the nipple wrench grip,
and the scary part is that other 3.2mm nipples often get rounded out
by 3.4mm tools being used on them.
This one didn't have any of that problem, but
since I'm completely replacing all the Sapim 14mm aluminum nipples anyway,
it doesn't matter if they're rounded or not (though unrounded is easier to disassemble).
On the front wheel, only the washer on the rim hole that had been repaired with a brass nipple
was deformed because tension was applied while it was slightly misaligned.
This is a Sapim part, not ZIPP, and we have it in stock, so I'm replacing it.
Built.
DT 12mm black aluminum nipples.
↑This is the split lock nut on the left-side end that has bearing adjustment functionality,
and because it has a streamlined shape,
when fixing it to the fork, you point the rounded side forward
and the pointed side backward for aerodynamic advantage.
↑The pointed side (the one facing backward)
When you adjust the bearing play,
the phase relationship between the hub axle and the end nut is not fixed, so
On the right end side
you install a part identical to the left-side end nut, except it has no bearing adjustment functionality and no threads cut,
orienting it the same way as the left side.
In the original state, the left and right orientation of this piece was all mixed up.