We've created our original wheel!
The rim is a Tni AL300 rim. The catalog weight is 460g,
and our actual measurements are 460–464g (so far the minimum and maximum values).
The key point is that it matches the catalog spec and has extremely little variation between individual units.
Today's shipment came in at 461g, 461g, and 462g.
Three rims together weigh 1384g, so the average for these three is 461.3g.
The rim comes in 20H, 24H, 28H, and 32H configurations, so
I was planning to build our standard wheels with 20H front and 24H rear.
But since the 24H rim stock is significantly delayed in arriving,
I'm currently only building and selling the 20H front wheel.
↑Here it is. Pricing will be posted later (actually I wrote it before).
The previous article is (→here)
↑I couldn't wait for the 24H rim, so I built the rear wheel with 20H.
I'm doing tied solder joints at the spoke intersections on the non-drive side of the rear wheel.
This allows us to bring the left-right difference in apparent spoke deflection much closer together.
↑This is before soldering.
Solder doesn't actually have the strength to hold the spoke intersections together.
The spokes are fixed by the steel wire lacing.
The solder only keeps the steel wire from unraveling.
The Tni rear hub comes in two types: steel bearing "Evolution" and
ceramic bearing "Wing," but
the Evolution is somewhat high-flange, which makes it possible to bring
the left-side spoke tension much closer to the right-side tension.
If you build the same rim the same way with the same right-side spoke tension
without tied solder joints, the left-side spoke tension will be quite different.
Once the wheel starts spinning it's another story, but in static condition,
theoretically the Evolution is superior.
When building wheels with Tni hubs, many of you have probably heard me say
"the Evo builds better rear wheels," and that's due to the hub's dimensional geometry.
My mysterious cosmic carbon is actually built with Wing hubs,
and sure enough the left side is sluggish. The Evolution hub can be tuned to spin as well as the Wing,
so unless you absolutely must have ceramics, I strongly recommend the Evolution hub.
In defense of the Wing hub, it does use ceramic bearings, so
when used without maintenance, the performance degradation is lower
(the initial performance persists longer), which is true.
Built with Tni AL300 rim, DT Competition 2.0–1.8–2.0 spokes,
DT aluminum nipples, and Tni Evolution hubs front and rear.
The rim is 461g, front wheel 667g, and rear wheel 836g!
You can also order custom spoke hole counts and lacing patterns.
The tied solder joint on the non-drive side is standard,
and you can also choose to have it done without solder.
With these specs,
we're selling them for ¥12,000 front and ¥17,000 rear.
As I wrote yesterday, I don't think this wheel is a superior upgrade compared to
special-design aluminum-spoke complete wheels that cost around ¥100,000.
But I do think that a light, fast wheel like this for a selling price of ¥29,000 is pretty rare!
For reference (if it's useful):
Shimano WH–9000–C24–CL front 570g ￥44365
Shimano WH–9000–C24–CL rear 794g ￥51877
Shimano WH–RS80–A–C24 front 634g ￥33139
Shimano WH–RS80–A–C24 rear 870g ￥37371
↑These are roughly the weight-based competitors.
Shimano WH–6700 front 695g ￥19035
Shimano WH–6700 rear 956g ￥22346
Shimano WH–RS30A Black front 846g ￥12008
Shimano WH–RS30A Black rear 1116g ￥14096
↑These are roughly the price-based competitors.
The rim is a Tni AL300 rim. The catalog weight is 460g,
and our actual measurements are 460–464g (so far the minimum and maximum values).
The key point is that it matches the catalog spec and has extremely little variation between individual units.
Today's shipment came in at 461g, 461g, and 462g.
Three rims together weigh 1384g, so the average for these three is 461.3g.
The rim comes in 20H, 24H, 28H, and 32H configurations, so
I was planning to build our standard wheels with 20H front and 24H rear.
But since the 24H rim stock is significantly delayed in arriving,
I'm currently only building and selling the 20H front wheel.
↑Here it is. Pricing will be posted later (actually I wrote it before).
The previous article is (→here)
↑I couldn't wait for the 24H rim, so I built the rear wheel with 20H.
I'm doing tied solder joints at the spoke intersections on the non-drive side of the rear wheel.
This allows us to bring the left-right difference in apparent spoke deflection much closer together.
↑This is before soldering.
Solder doesn't actually have the strength to hold the spoke intersections together.
The spokes are fixed by the steel wire lacing.
The solder only keeps the steel wire from unraveling.
The Tni rear hub comes in two types: steel bearing "Evolution" and
ceramic bearing "Wing," but
the Evolution is somewhat high-flange, which makes it possible to bring
the left-side spoke tension much closer to the right-side tension.
If you build the same rim the same way with the same right-side spoke tension
without tied solder joints, the left-side spoke tension will be quite different.
Once the wheel starts spinning it's another story, but in static condition,
theoretically the Evolution is superior.
When building wheels with Tni hubs, many of you have probably heard me say
"the Evo builds better rear wheels," and that's due to the hub's dimensional geometry.
My mysterious cosmic carbon is actually built with Wing hubs,
and sure enough the left side is sluggish. The Evolution hub can be tuned to spin as well as the Wing,
so unless you absolutely must have ceramics, I strongly recommend the Evolution hub.
In defense of the Wing hub, it does use ceramic bearings, so
when used without maintenance, the performance degradation is lower
(the initial performance persists longer), which is true.
Built with Tni AL300 rim, DT Competition 2.0–1.8–2.0 spokes,
DT aluminum nipples, and Tni Evolution hubs front and rear.
The rim is 461g, front wheel 667g, and rear wheel 836g!
You can also order custom spoke hole counts and lacing patterns.
The tied solder joint on the non-drive side is standard,
and you can also choose to have it done without solder.
With these specs,
we're selling them for ¥12,000 front and ¥17,000 rear.
As I wrote yesterday, I don't think this wheel is a superior upgrade compared to
special-design aluminum-spoke complete wheels that cost around ¥100,000.
But I do think that a light, fast wheel like this for a selling price of ¥29,000 is pretty rare!
For reference (if it's useful):
Shimano WH–9000–C24–CL front 570g ￥44365
Shimano WH–9000–C24–CL rear 794g ￥51877
Shimano WH–RS80–A–C24 front 634g ￥33139
Shimano WH–RS80–A–C24 rear 870g ￥37371
↑These are roughly the weight-based competitors.
Shimano WH–6700 front 695g ￥19035
Shimano WH–6700 rear 956g ￥22346
Shimano WH–RS30A Black front 846g ￥12008
Shimano WH–RS30A Black rear 1116g ￥14096
↑These are roughly the price-based competitors.