Rebuilt the 303 NSW Disc (Rear Wheel - Part 1)

Another wheel day (and so on).

A customer brought in a ZIPP 303 NSW disc wheel for service.
Today I only worked on the rear wheel.


Some NSW models have a sawtooth profile on the inner circumference of the rim,
but that's only the 454 and 858—the ones with a 5 in the tens place of the model number.


Both Corima and ZIPP recently changed their logos.
This is now the old logo.



The center is slightly off. The customer wants this wheel rebuilt
because it's obviously too loose.

This customer has a SMART ENVE wheel I built using result-oriented lacing
(I built it from a bare rim, not a stock wheel rebuild),
and they say it has better grip and rolls faster than a Bora One.
Compared to that, this wheel definitely feels sloppy.


ZIPP Cognition hub, 24H, all-black CX-RAY 4/4 lacing.
ZIPP rims have improved tremendously in quality compared to the early days of Firecrest,
but their wheels use some kind of pre-20th-century spec—ordinary, or rather
below-ordinary by modern standards—with symmetrical spoke count and diameter (especially CX-RAY)
in a radial spoke build. It's very wasteful.
The rim itself is good, but when assembled into a wheel it becomes garbage.


The final crossing on the non-drive side is

extremely loose.
I didn't count them, but this individual might have low tension.
However, since it shipped this way,
for the customer this is the whole story.

If this were a rim brake wheel,
I think most riders would experience brake rub,
but with disc brakes, a crappy wheel's flaws are less obvious—that safety net
might be convenient for the manufacturer.


Tubeless tape was applied,
but there's no sealant residue and the tube markings transferred backward,
so it was ridden tubed.


I disassembled the wheel.
Black aluminum nipples that can be turned from the rim and
24 each of Sapim's new B nipple washers,
but dividing them into groups of four makes it visually easier to count—handy.


Just now I casually threw out the mysterious term "Sapim new B nipple washer,"
but not long ago Sapim changed the spec of the B among their A, B, C nipple washers,
and both what comes in ZIPP rims and what arrives when I order from Sapim's distributor
is the new B type.


↑ Left image is old B, right is new B.
The color and finish differ (old B has more of a stainless steel shine)


and the front-to-back length when installed inside the rim
is shorter on the new B.


Also, old B sticks very well to a magnet
(in the image above, it's completely stuck and floating),
so I can quickly recover any washers left inside the rim en masse.


New B doesn't stick to a magnet much.
A slight shake from the position in the image above and it falls right off.
So recovery time is completely different.
While there are still many washers in the rim, shaking it gets them out easily enough,
but toward the end I have to guide them out with tweezers.

I've never seen old B get crusty with rust,
but new B might resist rust better.
Also, I have a feeling I could build DT Squolx-specified rims
with new B and universal color nipples,
but I don't want to get burned again, so when I do try it
I'll test it on my own bikes long-term first.


Built.
24H, semi-comp 4-cross JIS lacing with result-oriented strands.


When converting an all-CX-RAY 4/4 lacing to semi-comp left-right uneven lacing,
on the side where spokes are more upright I change the gauge,
and on the slack side the length changes, so all spokes left and right can't be reused.
If absolutely no spokes can be reused,
the customer said silver spokes and silver nipples were fine,
so that's what I went with.
It cuts costs a bit and silver has better solder adhesion than black.

Also, silver spokes make it "obviously freshly rebuilt" aesthetically, so
it might actually feel fresher.