I took in a Bontrager wheel for partial re-lacing.
The rim is HED-made, the hub is a PowerTap,
but both are purpose-built for pair-spoke phasing.
↑Because it's pair-spoke phasing, the spoke holes in the flanges are positioned almost directly opposite each other.
It's 16H all-inpoke straight-through, two-piece laced,
but this re-lace job is specifically about that inpoke section.
All-inpoke straight-through has significant lateral protrusion, so when shifting to low gears
(especially inner ring × low sprocket) the rear derailleur and spokes frequently interfere.
With Shimano 9-speed you might just barely avoid it with careful adjustment.
With 10-speed and 11-speed, both Shimano and Campagnolo are hopeless.
American Classic hubs have larger flanges so it's somewhat better, but...
The idea was that re-lacing this to outpoke straight-through
would avoid the interference. I took the job on that basis.
Indeed, with outpoke, everything except the spoke heads sits entirely inside the flange,
so it should make a huge difference.
Before re-lacing I checked the wheel center—it was way off.
This isn't Bontrager's fault.
The customer swapped from a Shimano freebody to a Campagnolo freebody,
but since the hub is the PowerTap "2.4" model,
spacers had to be moved from the left end to the right end,
and that's what throws off the center.
Factoring that in, the center must have been true before the freebody swap—that's how far off it was.
The customer was aware of the center issue and requested two things:
"Please correct the center during re-lacing" and
"If possible, adjust spoke tension in a way that gives it a solid, crisp feel."
When you move the left spacer to the right, the rim shifts away from the freebody side,
so you either tighten the nipples on the freebody side to pull the rim back toward it,
or loosen the nipples on the non-freebody side to push the rim out toward the freebody.
I had to use the first approach as much as possible.
About the Italian-equivalent lacing on the all-inpoke straight-through.
My definition of "Italian-equivalent lacing" is
"spokes extending in the porcupine direction are on the outermost position on both sides."
The four images above are the non-freebody side, with the direction of travel on the left side of the image.
So this qualifies as "Italian-equivalent lacing."
Next, the freebody side.
This time the right side of the image is the direction of travel.
These are also "Italian-equivalent lacing."
But there was one spot that was reversed.
Either way, since we're re-lacing it, it's fine,
but stuff like that gets to me mentally (irritating).
About the request to "increase the solid feel."
Since it's two-spokes-laced, I could theoretically swap to four-spokes-laced
and raise spoke tension further,
but this HED-made rim has a two-layer structure where a low-height carbon base
is covered with a carbon fairing—similar to Mavic Cosmic Carbone.
Changing the lacing pattern changes the spoke's incident angle to the rim,
so spoke and rim holes might interfere.
The hole and spoke position relationship: I'm photographing spots where the spoke passes through the center of the hole,
but in some places the spoke is actually rubbing against the hole edge.
So I judged that switching to four-spokes-laced could create problems,
and I didn't change the non-freebody side's lacing pattern.
This carbon fairing section is made very thin to be aero-efficient while keeping weight gain minimal.
When held to the light, you can actually see the carbon weave through it.
I also checked the freebody ratchet while I was at it.
It was extremely clean inside,
but the grease was a bit light, so I topped it up.
The bearings were also dry, so I greased them up.
Re-laced.
↑Inpoke and Outpoke #1
↑Inpoke and Outpoke #2
↑Inpoke and Outpoke #3
I don't have an image of before the re-lace, but here's the post-lace condition with sprockets installed.
Yeah, I see why that's harsh.
The rear derailleur interference happens a bit lower than this.
I've slightly increased the spoke tension.
The rim is HED-made, the hub is a PowerTap,
but both are purpose-built for pair-spoke phasing.
↑Because it's pair-spoke phasing, the spoke holes in the flanges are positioned almost directly opposite each other.
It's 16H all-inpoke straight-through, two-piece laced,
but this re-lace job is specifically about that inpoke section.
All-inpoke straight-through has significant lateral protrusion, so when shifting to low gears
(especially inner ring × low sprocket) the rear derailleur and spokes frequently interfere.
With Shimano 9-speed you might just barely avoid it with careful adjustment.
With 10-speed and 11-speed, both Shimano and Campagnolo are hopeless.
American Classic hubs have larger flanges so it's somewhat better, but...
The idea was that re-lacing this to outpoke straight-through
would avoid the interference. I took the job on that basis.
Indeed, with outpoke, everything except the spoke heads sits entirely inside the flange,
so it should make a huge difference.
Before re-lacing I checked the wheel center—it was way off.
This isn't Bontrager's fault.
The customer swapped from a Shimano freebody to a Campagnolo freebody,
but since the hub is the PowerTap "2.4" model,
spacers had to be moved from the left end to the right end,
and that's what throws off the center.
Factoring that in, the center must have been true before the freebody swap—that's how far off it was.
The customer was aware of the center issue and requested two things:
"Please correct the center during re-lacing" and
"If possible, adjust spoke tension in a way that gives it a solid, crisp feel."
When you move the left spacer to the right, the rim shifts away from the freebody side,
so you either tighten the nipples on the freebody side to pull the rim back toward it,
or loosen the nipples on the non-freebody side to push the rim out toward the freebody.
I had to use the first approach as much as possible.
About the Italian-equivalent lacing on the all-inpoke straight-through.
My definition of "Italian-equivalent lacing" is
"spokes extending in the porcupine direction are on the outermost position on both sides."
The four images above are the non-freebody side, with the direction of travel on the left side of the image.
So this qualifies as "Italian-equivalent lacing."
Next, the freebody side.
This time the right side of the image is the direction of travel.
These are also "Italian-equivalent lacing."
But there was one spot that was reversed.
Either way, since we're re-lacing it, it's fine,
but stuff like that gets to me mentally (irritating).
About the request to "increase the solid feel."
Since it's two-spokes-laced, I could theoretically swap to four-spokes-laced
and raise spoke tension further,
but this HED-made rim has a two-layer structure where a low-height carbon base
is covered with a carbon fairing—similar to Mavic Cosmic Carbone.
Changing the lacing pattern changes the spoke's incident angle to the rim,
so spoke and rim holes might interfere.
The hole and spoke position relationship: I'm photographing spots where the spoke passes through the center of the hole,
but in some places the spoke is actually rubbing against the hole edge.
So I judged that switching to four-spokes-laced could create problems,
and I didn't change the non-freebody side's lacing pattern.
This carbon fairing section is made very thin to be aero-efficient while keeping weight gain minimal.
When held to the light, you can actually see the carbon weave through it.
I also checked the freebody ratchet while I was at it.
It was extremely clean inside,
but the grease was a bit light, so I topped it up.
The bearings were also dry, so I greased them up.
Re-laced.
↑Inpoke and Outpoke #1
↑Inpoke and Outpoke #2
↑Inpoke and Outpoke #3
I don't have an image of before the re-lace, but here's the post-lace condition with sprockets installed.
Yeah, I see why that's harsh.
The rear derailleur interference happens a bit lower than this.
I've slightly increased the spoke tension.