Another day, another wheelset (and so on).
Writing from home today, hehe, looks like the whiskey's getting to me.
Milk whiskey goes down smooth, but at 40% alcohol
the buzz hits different.
The fourth and fifth of the "Seven Dyer's Wheelsets."
38mm carbon tubular rims, 20 holes and 24 holes respectively.
Front hub is that crazy wide-flange design, rear is a Novatech (Japanese hub brand)
Tni Evolution equivalent.
Built them up.
Because of the fork shape, clearance between spokes should be super tight,
but they've done training and races getting out of the saddle hard and it's held up fine, so this time too I went with straight-pull spokes (Nupooke cross lacing).
The rim is even deeper than last time, so theoretically the spoke angle becomes more obtuse,
which is favorable for avoiding interference.
So I went with straight-pull spokes.
Novatech freebody compatible with Shimano 11-speed.
The red freebody isn't because of the 11-speed for a different reason.
Freewheel side Campagnolo, non-freebody side CX-RAY Italian 46-tooth assembly.
Most people reading this blog probably know whose wheelset this is.
Their blog gets more views than mine, after all.
And this person is going around saying that their wheels—
the first and second of the "Seven Dyer's Wheelsets"—
run better than "the Kolima wheelset they originally owned,"
but in my unbiased assessment, that's absolutely not the case.
The rear wheel is a PowerTap, and it's not exactly light either.
What I try to do is, for example, take one of my hand-built wheels
and imagine mixing it into a group of 99 other different wheelsets—
then objectively evaluate where it stands among those 100 wheels
in terms of lightness, responsiveness, vertical stiffness, lateral stiffness, and other factors.
I do pride myself on building more wheels than most people,
but without getting arrogant, when I make an effort to view things objectively, my conclusion is
"the Nomu Lab Wheel No. 1 PowerTap version doesn't roll as well as the Kolima"—that's my theoretical assessment.
So I've told this person directly, repeatedly: "(So there's no way the No. 1 is faster than the Kolima)"
But when I look at their blog, they write glowing praise about the Nomu Lab wheels
as if I'd asked them to. Please, I'm begging you, stop.
When I handed over the wheel today, they kept squeezing the spokes
saying "Wow, it's stiff" and "That's amazing" the whole time.
Even when I said "If the fighting ability of the Nomu Lab No. 1 rear wheel
(reference: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing) is 100,
then the Kolima rear wheel is 530,000" (reference: Frieza),
they wouldn't take me seriously.
Not out of modesty but from attempting to view things objectively,
my own assessment of my hand-built wheels isn't that high.
In terms of vertical stiffness, no matter what you do, WO-spec Racing Zero
or Lightweight tubulars beat my work.
Even if I could win on rim weight alone, the stiffness that comes from special design
just can't be achieved with hand-building.
I've touched on this point repeatedly in this blog.
There are shop owners out there who get fanatically caught up in their own religion
just because they can build hand-made wheels,
and I'm consciously trying not to fall into that trap.
In this case, that would mean
"It's confirmed that the Nomu Lab Wheel No. 1 has better performance than the Kolima!"
—but according to me, that's not true at all.
I'm sure many people read both blogs,
so when you read what this person writes about my wheels, please
take it with a grain of salt—or rather, as about 1/10th of what's written.
I say "Nomu Lab wheels aren't that special"
and the customer says "No, that's not true," each of us standing by our own opinion.
From the outside it might look backwards and funny, but I'm dead serious.
The wheel I handed over today might get a great write-up,
and I'm grateful and happy about that,
but it would be just about right if you read it as
about 1/10th of what's actually written.
Writing from home today, hehe, looks like the whiskey's getting to me.
Milk whiskey goes down smooth, but at 40% alcohol
the buzz hits different.
The fourth and fifth of the "Seven Dyer's Wheelsets."
38mm carbon tubular rims, 20 holes and 24 holes respectively.
Front hub is that crazy wide-flange design, rear is a Novatech (Japanese hub brand)
Tni Evolution equivalent.
Built them up.
Because of the fork shape, clearance between spokes should be super tight,
but they've done training and races getting out of the saddle hard and it's held up fine, so this time too I went with straight-pull spokes (Nupooke cross lacing).
The rim is even deeper than last time, so theoretically the spoke angle becomes more obtuse,
which is favorable for avoiding interference.
So I went with straight-pull spokes.
Novatech freebody compatible with Shimano 11-speed.
The red freebody isn't because of the 11-speed for a different reason.
Freewheel side Campagnolo, non-freebody side CX-RAY Italian 46-tooth assembly.
Most people reading this blog probably know whose wheelset this is.
Their blog gets more views than mine, after all.
And this person is going around saying that their wheels—
the first and second of the "Seven Dyer's Wheelsets"—
run better than "the Kolima wheelset they originally owned,"
but in my unbiased assessment, that's absolutely not the case.
The rear wheel is a PowerTap, and it's not exactly light either.
What I try to do is, for example, take one of my hand-built wheels
and imagine mixing it into a group of 99 other different wheelsets—
then objectively evaluate where it stands among those 100 wheels
in terms of lightness, responsiveness, vertical stiffness, lateral stiffness, and other factors.
I do pride myself on building more wheels than most people,
but without getting arrogant, when I make an effort to view things objectively, my conclusion is
"the Nomu Lab Wheel No. 1 PowerTap version doesn't roll as well as the Kolima"—that's my theoretical assessment.
So I've told this person directly, repeatedly: "(So there's no way the No. 1 is faster than the Kolima)"
But when I look at their blog, they write glowing praise about the Nomu Lab wheels
as if I'd asked them to. Please, I'm begging you, stop.
When I handed over the wheel today, they kept squeezing the spokes
saying "Wow, it's stiff" and "That's amazing" the whole time.
Even when I said "If the fighting ability of the Nomu Lab No. 1 rear wheel
(reference: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing) is 100,
then the Kolima rear wheel is 530,000" (reference: Frieza),
they wouldn't take me seriously.
Not out of modesty but from attempting to view things objectively,
my own assessment of my hand-built wheels isn't that high.
In terms of vertical stiffness, no matter what you do, WO-spec Racing Zero
or Lightweight tubulars beat my work.
Even if I could win on rim weight alone, the stiffness that comes from special design
just can't be achieved with hand-building.
I've touched on this point repeatedly in this blog.
There are shop owners out there who get fanatically caught up in their own religion
just because they can build hand-made wheels,
and I'm consciously trying not to fall into that trap.
In this case, that would mean
"It's confirmed that the Nomu Lab Wheel No. 1 has better performance than the Kolima!"
—but according to me, that's not true at all.
I'm sure many people read both blogs,
so when you read what this person writes about my wheels, please
take it with a grain of salt—or rather, as about 1/10th of what's written.
I say "Nomu Lab wheels aren't that special"
and the customer says "No, that's not true," each of us standing by our own opinion.
From the outside it might look backwards and funny, but I'm dead serious.
The wheel I handed over today might get a great write-up,
and I'm grateful and happy about that,
but it would be just about right if you read it as
about 1/10th of what's actually written.